Peer into the expanses of a Ruben Brulat photography, and you'll find yourself playing a different kind of Where's Waldo? Instead of a man in stripes gawking in a crowd of cartoon doppelgängers, you'll be searching for a nude body hiding in plain sight, nestled ever so slyly in the pocket of a stunning landscape.

Brulat positions naked people -- sometimes himself, sometimes strangers -- in settings that are unequivocally sublime. From a red-stained rock formation in the Gobi Desert to an ice field punctuated by ebony rocks, it's hard to focus on the curled body, tucked away in anonymity. You're more likely to drop your jaw at the uncanny feel of a saturated green field than the pale individual baring everything in the middle ground.

The French artist began his particular brand of nude photography (or, landscape photography, depending on your purview) after a solo trip to Iceland in 2009. "I was ... walking through the island when one night there was a rock by the side of the mountain -- a large and fascinating rock," he explained in an email. "It simply came as an urge. I got my camera ready, the timer on. I ran towards the rock with my bare body. It was cold but I did not feel it. It was rough but there was no pain, only a surge of all feelings together."

After Brulat's venture into self-portraits, he started introducing other people into his work. Throughout a yearlong stint of travel, heading towards Asia from Paris by land only, he would find and invite locals and fellow travelers alike to participate in the series, asking them to similarly take off their clothes in the empty spaces of nature. Sometimes Brulat and his subjects would meet only a mere hours before the shoot, other times they'd know each other for weeks before a photograph. At the end of their collaboration, he emphasized, they would say goodbye forever.

"The experience [of photographing other people] is extremely intimate and personal," he added. "There is the scale of nature surrounding each of these beings, but more important was the instinctive approach that took me away from the camera, looking only at what is there."

The subjects' faces remain notably obscured in most shots. The front of the body, Brulat said, is identity. His photos are meant to transcend identity, taking "each body to its almost animal nature." But the act of shading the face from view also evokes thoughts of loneliness, exaggerated by the figures appearing as if they were abandoned in the wild. Brulat sees this kind of loneliness as freedom.

"When walking along the trails or the side of a mountain ... there is this feeling of freedom," he concluded. "Then there is this need that comes, this urge from deep within. There is this incredible feeling of being part of something much greater than what we are made of. Once laying against the bare rock, feeling everything and nothing, there is peace."

Burlat is currently traveling throughout Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea but graciously allowed us to showcase some of his past photographs here. Enjoy.

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"I ain't afraid to die anymore," Leonardo DiCaprio's explorer says in the first trailer for "The Revenant." "I've done it already."

During award season this year, "Birdman" director Alejandro González Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki escaped to remote areas of Calgary for their latest collaboration, "The Revenant." The survival film stars DiCaprio as real-life legendary explorer and fur trapper Hugh Glass after he's attacked by a bear and left for dead. Glass is betrayed by his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and attempts to survive through the harsh winter. In the first intense trailer, we see a bloody DiCaprio attacked by a bear and firing his gun while riding a horse, interspersed with stunning wide shots of the actors within the landscape.

"The Revenant," which is set to open this Christmas, is sure to be a strong awards contender, and as Variety wrote, it might revolutionize the film industry. Earlier this year, director and co-writer Iñárritu told Deadline about the film's challenging shoot, which included traveling to faraway locations. The shooting schedule was so grueling that it caused Hardy to drop out of "Suicide Squad." Yet the most noteable aspect of the film is that Iñárritu and Lubezki shot it with only natural light. "And every single scene is so difficult," Iñárritu told Deadline, "emotionally, technically. I’ve gotten myself in trouble again, but I’m trying my best." Perhaps that trouble will pay off and earn the duo another set of Oscars.

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Carl Warner makes entire fantasy worlds out of onions, mushrooms and salami -- ingredients found in the market that we never thought could work so harmoniously together outside of a crockpot.

The London-based photographer told The Huffington Post that it started in 1999 when a portobello mushroom sparked his imagination.

"I was wondering around the market one day and saw these beautiful portobello mushrooms," he said. "They looked like weird alien trees, so I thought I'd take them back to the studio. Then I realized I needed some foreground, so I went back and bought some rice and beans, and built this mini set and lit it. It worked. I thought, 'I’ve never seen anything like that before.'" 

In the years since, Warner estimates he's made about 100 "foodscapes," some of which are advertisements for clients such as Uncle Ben's Rice, Whiskas and Wheat Thins.

The hook,Warner says, is tricking the viewer. He added, "The whole premise of the idea -- could I make worlds that look like real worlds out of food?"

The photographer uses traditional painting devices, such as lighting and composition, "in order to fool people into thinking the scene is potentially real," he said, adding that some of his shoots take days to complete. 

Warner will photograph in sessions and stitch the layers together in post-processing.

And if you think he's being wasteful, fear not: Warner said most of what he photographs is taken by his crew and eaten, or donated to a homeless shelter, which means his photographs are literally a feast for the eyes.

Warner said he enjoys getting paid to play with food. "It's really quite fun... just creating something from nothing. I like the idea that I can grab a bag of groceries in the morning, and in the afternoon I’m retouching a photograph of a beautiful broccoli forest. That really inspires me, because it makes you think you can do so much with so little."

H/T CNN

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Sometimes, when you're really feelin' the music, you just. Gotta. Dance. 

And that's exactly what Fred Rawicz did when he heard Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" come on the loudspeakers. 

In a video uploaded to Facebook, the 18-year-old breaks it down like nobody's business at T in the Park, a music festival in Scotland. It's clear the music is running through his veins, and that he needs to do something about it.

The video of Rawicz's moves was shared Tuesday and has since gone viral with more than 2.8 million views.  

Watch as Rawicz starts grooving, ramping up the energy in his moves. He builds up to an eye-opening split at the 0:18 mark. And his fire doesn't stop there -- the 18-year-old continues to burn up the dance floor with some shuffling, body rolls and more splits because nothing can cramp his style. 

He may look like a pro, but Rawicz told BuzzFeed that he's not a trained dancer. Those move just come from the heart. 

“As soon as I heard the song come on I was just like, ‘OK this is my jam, I have to dance to it!’"

H/T BuzzFeed News

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This isn't about women who shave their legs. This isn't about women who choose not to. This isn't even really about companies using shame as a marketing tool. This is about commercials that don't make a damn bit of sense. 

Nearly every shaving ad includes a few-second clip of a pretty (white) woman taking a bath in a cloud of bubbles. Razor in hand, she reaches out to shave... A flawless, silky smooth leg. 

This soon-to-be-sheared appendage sure looks about as hairless as a baby bird before the model goes at it with the razor she's ostensibly meant to promote. This brings up a few questions:

• Why are these women shaving shaved legs?

• Did they forget they'd already done that one?

• Had they all actually bleached their leg hair in some sort of bizarre, pre-shaving ritual?

• Are people so disgusted by a light dusting of hair on a lady that they'd avoid all hint of stubble in a television advertisement in order to portray a weird nirvana where body hair doesn't grow?

Honestly, it would be much more impressive to see Ultron Razor 2000 taking on a full-on pelt and come away intact. We never see these products truthfully in action on TV. Are we all so collectively afraid of women's body hair? Or does there not yet exist a women's razor good enough to take on a whole winter's worth of fuzz? Or both?

Regardless, it's especially baffling when you consider how advertising has never shied away from a juicy before-and-after shot. Think wrinkle creams, acne wash, weight loss programs and whitening toothpaste. First: Your body's natural ugliness. Then: Product X makes it beautiful! Find Product X in your local store.

Beauty and personal hygiene advertisements thrive on reminding consumers of their bodies' many supposed flaws. That leg hair isn't shown suggests it's too grotesque for audiences, similar to the way sanitary pad commercials illustrate period blood with some biologically impossible blue liquid instead of a more accurate -- but probably stomach-churning -- red. The thing is, we're not talking medical-drama-level gore here. 

The closest thing we usually get to reality is an animation demonstrating how the product's features -- another blade, swiveling ability, a pink handle -- help you manage the task of shaving. An iron-grey blade mechanically shears off a few perky cartoon follicles, abstractly illustrating a scenario in which female legs sprouted hair. 

Men's razor commercials do not concern themselves with any such hairless fantasy. And so -- brushing aside the fact that marketing razors "for men" or "for women" is on par with marketing pens "for men" or "for women" -- men are sold razors that are shown to perform the task they're built for. 

It should be noted that plenty of commercials skirt the issue completely by pre-lathering models with shaving cream. So, even if it were present, the undesirable body hair is covered up. That may also save time, but it still wonderfully fails to show us the things are actually good at de-hair-ifying us.

Should we act now to stop razor makers from spreading egregious falsehoods about the female body? Maybe. No. Probably not. It doesn't exactly matter a whole lot -- mostly it's just dumb, and sad, like pens for women. Soon we'll all be too busy shaving our faces to trouble our lady brains about these things, anyhow.

Note: The featured image on this post is taken from an actual, batshit commercial for Schick razors. 

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This year's Emmy nominations included surprises, wearyingly predictable nods, and a few glaring snubs, but one of the most striking things about the nominations had to do with age. Of the 18 leading actress nominees across comedy, drama, and mini-series, 15 of them are over the age of 40.

It would be nice if this wasn't notable, but it is. And it's awesome. 

In the category for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Amy Schumer, at 34, is the youngest actress nominated. The other nominees include Amy Poehler, Edie Falco and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The oldest is Lily Tomlin, who earned a nod for her funny, honest and nuanced performance in the Netflix series "Grace and Frankie." Tomlin is 75. A woman her age has never been nominated in this category. Prior to her, the oldest nominee was Betty White at 69 for "Golden Girls" in 1991. (Cicely Tyson, at 92, is the oldest nominee this year for her guest starring role on "How to Get Away With Murder.")

The age diversity among this year's female nominees is even more significant when you count the supporting actress categories, which include women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, from 28-year-old Emilia Clarke from "Game of Thrones," to 63-year old Christine Baranski from "The Good Wife." A vast majority of these actresses, even if they aren't over 40, are in their 30s. All of the actresses are playing characters who are age-appropriate.

This is, in a word, huge.

In a Hollywood landscape where 24-year-old Jennifer Lawrence consistently gets cast as a middle-aged single mom or 30-something divorcee, and where 26-year-old Emma Stone plays the charming young lover of men twice her age in Woody Allen movie after Woody Allen movie, it's refreshing to see women of all ages being recognized and celebrated for playing complex, meaty roles across genres. 

Television has long been praised for being more daring and creative, and certainly more diverse when it comes to race and gender (though, of course, we have a long way to go -- shows like "Jane the Virgin" and "Empire" were largely shut out of the major Emmy categories this year). This year, two African-American actresses are nominated for lead actress in a drama, and both of them (Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis) also happen to be in their 40s. 

As Davis said in a roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, "I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size two be a sexualized role in TV or film... I'm a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever identified me as a sexualized woman. I was the prototype of the 'mommified' role."

Hollywood perpetuates the straight male fantasy that every woman who is on screen, no matter her age or station in life, should be "fuckable" (in the eyes of white heterosexual male viewers). But this year's Emmy nominees prove that pandering to that kind of audience is unnecessary and boring -- there's so much more out there. Davis doesn't have to play the mom or the "Law & Order" judge just because she's 49, and conversely Amy Schumer doesn't have to play the dumb blonde type -- instead, she can satirize it. 

This is all to say that there's some room for optimism. The Emmys, like many awards shows, are a great representation of where we're at and where we have to go. There's been a growing trend not only of complex women on the small screen, and a diversity in the types of actresses who get these roles, but also in the accolades and acknowledgement that these performances are getting. That's progress. Last year, the number of nominated lead actresses over 40 was 14. This year's, it's 15. That number -- and the rich, interesting performances that go along with those stats -- should only grow.

Check out all the female acting nominees below, and rejoice: 

Outstanding Leading Actress in a Drama Series 

Claire Danes “Homeland” - 36 

Viola Davis “How to Get Away with Murder” - 49

Taraji P. Henson “Empire” - 44

Tatiana Maslany “Orphan Black” - 29 

Elisabeth Moss “Mad Men” - 32

Robin Wright “House of Cards” - 49

Outstanding Leading Actress in a Comedy Series 

Amy Poehler, "Parks And Recreation" - 43 

Lily Tomlin, "Grace and Frankie" - 75

Lisa Kudrow, "The Comeback" - 51

Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie" - 52

Amy Schumer, "Inside Amy Schumer" - 34 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep" - 54

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”- 34
Lena Headey, “Game Of Thrones” - 41
Emilia Clarke ,“Game Of Thrones” - 28 
Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife” - 63
Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men” - 40
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is The New Black” - 34

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 

Mayim Bialik ,“The Big Bang Theory” - 39 
Niecy Nash, “Getting On” - 45
Julie Bowen, “Modern Family” - 45
Allison Janney, “Mom” - 55
Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”  - 31
Gaby Hoffmann, “Transparent” - 33
Jane Krakowski, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” - 46
Anna Chlumsky, “Veep” - 34

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge” -58
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman” - 37
Queen Latifah, “Bessie” - 45
Emma Thompson, “Sweeney Todd: Live From Lincoln Center” - 56
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story: Freak Show” - 66
Felicity Huffman, “American Crime” - 52

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For such a tiny superhero, "Ant-Man" is a big movie.

(Warning: Major "Ant-Man" spoilers!)

The film introduces us to the Ant-Man backstory, connects perfectly into the current Marvel timeline and even ties up some loose ends from another Marvel movie, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." That moment happens in the post-credit scene, which Marvel president Kevin Feige already revealed is a peek at "Captain America: Civil War," something which "Ant-Man" director Peyton Reed also confirmed to The Huffington Post. But there's something else you may have missed that's an even bigger deal.

"Ant-Man" has Marvel's first big Spider-Man reference. 

Image: Giphy

OK, gosh, hold your horses.

We know Spider-Man is reportedly showing up in future Marvel movies, but rumors of an Easter egg in "Ant-Man" started getting around even before the first screenings. Spider-Man isn't mentioned by name in the film, so we asked Reed for his thoughts.

"There is one Spider-Man reference," Reed confirmed to HuffPost. "It really sort of became organic to our story."

Reed said it all happened because of Ant-Man's earlier encounter with another Marvel superhero, Falcon, which the director called a true "wish fulfillment" to see those two go against each other. As those who've seen the film know, this encounter results in Falcon looking for Ant-Man at the end of the movie. Then, when Michael Peña’s character, Luis, is telling Ant-Man, aka Paul Rudd, that someone's looking for him, he mentions a female journalist.

Reed said, "This young journalist character, she’s sort of got this inside track and she makes a reference to [Falcon], 'Okay, you’re looking for this guy. What are his powers? You gotta be more specific because we’ve got guys that do this and that,' and it just made sense for the story."

Image: Tumblr

When you watch the movie, look out for that moment. Like we said, she doesn't mention him by name, but she lists specific powers that should now have your Spidey senses tingling. 

The Oscorp Tower from the "Spider-Man" universe reportedly almost made it into the first "Avengers" film, and the building may or may not have made it into "Avengers: Age of Ultron," depending on who you ask. Still, this is the first no-doubt-about-it reference to our own friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

And that makes us feel pretty good.

Image: YouTube/MakeAGif

No, not that good, Tobey Maguire. Never that good.

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In their description of the Ouija board on Amazon, Parker Brothers invites us to:

 "Just ask it a question and wait to see what answer the Mystifying Oracle will reveal to you. Ouija ... it's only a game --- isn't it?"  

This tease by the manufacturers sums up much of the public's reaction to the 'game' over the years, which have ranged from skepticism and intrigue to fear. But what is the history of the game and why has its popularity endured even as its image in popular culture has gone through such radical shifts?

What are people actually seeking when they use it?

Welcome to this week’s All Together, the podcast dedicated to exploring how ethics, religion and spiritual practice impact our daily lives.  You can download All Together on iTunes, or Stitcher.

In 1891, the Ouija board was introduced to stores around the country as the wonderful talking board that provided "a link between the known and the unknown, the material and immaterial.” But the history of talking boards goes back even further to sometime in the mid-19^th century with deep connection to the spiritualism movement and the popularity of mediums that claimed to connect the living with the dead.

My own interest in the Ouija Board was rekindled when I was reading, of all things, Roz Chast’s recent book, Why Can’t We talk About Something More Pleasant?, which chronicles her experience with her dying parents. At one point, Roz joins her daughter and friends who are using the Ouija board in an upstairs bedrooom. When the daughter urges Roz to ask the board a question, she asks what was really on her mind: When will her father die? The board answers: "Heaven Beckons" -- a phrase she, nor anyone else in the room, ever would have used.  

I recently saw Roz at a dinner and she still can’t explain it. We decided that we wanted to do a session with the board but I thought first I should talk to an expert. So I turned to Robert Murch, who has spent much of his life looking into Talking Boards and who knows as much as anyone about the unique place Ouija boards hold within spirituality. 

Today’s All Together was produced by Katelyn Boguki and edited by Jorge Carona. Brad Shannon is our audio engineer. 

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What's it like to be a superhero who's the size of an ant? That's what "What to Watch" host Ricky Camilleri asked himself about Paul Rudd in "Ant-Man." Instead of merely daydreaming, Camilleri took it upon himself to step into Rudd's shoes and experience life from a shrunken perspective.

Aside from getting some solid life advice from "Ant-Man" actor Michael Peña, Camilleri also talks about Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck" and Thursday's Emmy nominations in the latest episode of "Watch to Watch." Watch it above as Camilleri writes sympathy cards to this year's egregious Emmy snubs, like "Empire" and Kit Harington for "Game of Thrones." Maybe next year -- or, uh, maybe not for Harington.

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The feminism of "Younger" is sneaky and sweet. Darren Star managed to cook a women's rights wake-up call into a feel-good rom-com, and then he hid it in TVLand's mid-season line-up. 

The show, based on Pamela Redmond Satran's book, Younger, tells the story of Liza Miller -- a 40-year-old mother, hoping to return to the workforce after getting divorced and taking a decade-and-a-half off to raise her daughter. Turned down for several jobs because of the gap on her résumé, Liza disguises herself as a 20-something with ombré highlights and a Millennial sensibility. From the pilot, the show offers up the excitement of reinvention combined with a biting condemnation of the way we force women to choose between their kids and a career. 

Now that "Younger" has been renewed for a second season (and is available for streaming in its entirety on TVLand's website), HuffPost Entertainment spoke to creator Darren Star about making the show and how things have changed for women on TV since he created "Sex and the City."

What made you want to adapt Pamela Redmond Satran's "Younger"?
I read the book a number of years ago, but it was being optioned somewhere else. I was always really drawn to the idea of a woman who had to lie about her age to re-enter the work place. I thought it felt like a relateable story. There are a lot of women that I know that left work to have kids and then found it hard, after they had kids, to sort of get back in to the jobs they’d left behind in order to raise children.

What were your initial thoughts on casting for Liza? Did you always intend to cast a woman, like Sutton Foster, who is genuinely a 40-year-old dressed up as a 26-year-old?

I didn’t want to cheat in terms of casting a woman who would have been, like, 32 to play 40 and 26. I also liked the idea of conceding this woman wasn’t magical. This wasn’t a fantasy where she magically turns back the clock and becomes a different age. I didn’t want there to be a fantasy aspect. In order to play fair with the audience, I thought we really had to cast a woman who was close to 40. It’s much more interesting. It’s about how people percieve you based on what you’re telling.

As a writer, how do stay in touch with the younger generation Liza is trying to fit in with?

That’s the fun of it, thinking about those generational differences. What would a woman who’s 40 years old come up against in terms of trying to behave like a younger person right now? Part of what made the show more relevant than it might of been 10 years ago is this whole idea of the Millennial generation that’s sort of come of age recently and defined themselves as a generational force. There is a a generation gap between Millennials and Generation X. So, that’s what the show is. It’s about exploring that. What is the generation gap? Millennials aren’t something we were really talking about even five years ago.

Definitely. How else have you seen things change. Especially for women on TV. How have things shifted as you've moved from creating "Sex and the City" to "Younger"?

I think there have always been fantastic female characters on TV. You can even go back to “I Love Lucy” or "Mary Tyler Moore." Those were always some of the best shows on television that featured women. I think there’s so much good television out there now and the universe of female centric shows has expanded, which is great. I think the women are a powerful audience in television. I think television is serving them in a broader way than it has in the past.

Do you think that female-led content is pigeon-holed? Certainly "Sex and the City" was considered a show "for women." Have you seen that at all with "Younger"?

I kind of feel like just because a show stars a woman doesn’t mean it’s only for women. The same way if a show stars a man, doesn’t mean that only men can watch it. “Younger” certainly has a female protagonist and has a lot of women in it, but that doesn’t mean it’s only geared for women. I don’t think you’d ever counter the reverse, where you’d have a show with a male lead where it’s like, “Only men can watch this show!” So, I kind of think it certainly has a strong female protagonist, but I think it’s a show that men enjoy too. I think that’s what happened at the beginning of “Sex and the City.” So many people were saying, “Oh, it’s only for women.” But no, guys like it too. It’s kind of like, yes, it’s a show that features female characters but it’s for everybody.

How do you think men end up watching either show? They are definitely both deliberately marketed to women. 

I think those shows get their first audiences with women and then the women bring in the guys.

Is that the best way in?

I do think it's the most natural way in for sure. I guess the point is that "Younger" is really a romantic comedy, which I think is definitely thought of as female-centric, but is something that guys can enjoy as well.

What is "Younger" about for you, as the creator who also so happens to be a middle-aged man?

To me, the show at it’s heart is really about reinvention. That certainly comes with its own ideas of ageism and the concept that age is a state of mind. But I think the bigger theme that we think about in the show is reinvention.

There's definitely a universality to that theme. Now you have a Season 2. What's in store?

Yes, we’re working on it now. We’re having fun figuring it out. I think we definitely expanded the universe of the show. We’re left with a really wonderful cast that we’d like to give more stories to. So, we’ll certainly get to know some of the supporting characters a little better.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Disclosure: Pamela Redmond Satran is the mother of Joe Satran, a HuffPost reporter who has repeatedly texted the author of this story to discuss "The Good Wife."

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A year after a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all aboard, a Dutch town is remembering the victims with Ukrainian sunflowers. 

Flight MH17 was hit by a missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, amid fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government. The plane was destroyed by a Russian surface-to-air missile fired from rebel-controlled territory, according to a Dutch Safety Board investigation. 

Hilversum, a town near Amsterdam, lost 15 residents in the crash. One year later, Hilversum residents have a new way to remember those who died -- with sunflowers grown from seeds gathered near the crash site.  

Crash investigators found sunflowers blooming around the twisted wreckage and human remains when they first reached the scene of the disaster, after two weeks of Russian obstruction. 

The flowers quickly became a symbol of hope and remembrance. Some laid the blooms in front of the Dutch Embassy in Kiev as a memorial to the victims. 

It's unclear how the sunflower seeds got to Hilversum. Two Australian journalists said they made it their mission to send seeds from the crash site to victims' families and friends, thinking they could plant them as symbols of remembrance and renewal. 

They sent seeds to the father of Quinn Lucas Schansman, who lives in Hilversum. The first news article about Hilversum's sunflowers says an unnamed American journalist gave an unnamed victim's father the seeds. 

Some of those seeds were nurtured into flowers by the town's head gardener. Others flourished in the church of the Rev. Julius Dresme, pastor of the St. Vitus Church, where the victims' funerals were held.

Seeds from those flowers were to have been given away at a memorial service Friday. They will be planted in families' gardens, as well as the schools and sports clubs they attended. 

 "It was a really good thought, because the seeds, they become flowers. They have seeds again, and on and on. And you can see, there's life," the gardener told RFE/RL. 

"There will always be seeds from Ukraine now in Holland," he said.  

The MH17 disaster heightened tensions among Russia, Europe and the U.S., as the as the world blamed Russian President Putin for sponsoring and arming the separatists suspected of bringing down the plane. 

Secretary of State John Kerry accused pro-Russian separatists of drunkenly piling up corpses and disturbing the crash site. Rebels initially blocked international investigators from reaching the site.

Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine have all called on the U.N. Security Council to conduct an independent investigation into the crash. Putin has rejected the calls as "premature."

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Purevsurengiin Togtokhsuren is just 13 years old, but he's already a seasoned jockey. This year marked his fifth time competing in the horse races of Naadam, Mongolia's annual summer festival. The festival celebrates the three "manly arts" of Mongolian society -- horse racing, wrestling and archery. 

Johannes Eisele photographed Purevsurengiin on July 8-11 during the Naadam races in Khui Doloon Khudag, near Ulaanbaatar.

Purevsurengiin's parents sent him to work as a jockey after a severe winter in 2010, the AFP reports. Mongolian child jockeys usually earn about $250 a month for their families, while their coaches pay for their food and school.

Mongolian races are far longer than Western ones, and Naadam courses can be anything from 15 to 30 kilometers long (nine to 18 miles) depending on the age of the horse. Despite a strong performance in 2014, Purevsurengiin came in 30th place in this year's race.

UNICEF has raised concerns about the safety of child jockeys. Two children were killed and 24 more were injured in the 2013 Nadaam races. "The use of children as jockeys for the purpose of making profit or entertainment is a violation of children's right to protection from exploitation and harmful labour and places them in great danger," it said in a statement. 

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“Pain slowly reappears when we try to escape from memory and oblivion. ‘Reincarnation’ does not seek to signify the emergence of an unprecedented phenomenon, but suggests a way of remembering the deceased and the suffering, as well as restoring conscience, morality, empathy, and justice.” -IM Heung-soon, translated by Harry C.H. Choi

These words may have the sheen of a poet’s, but they were composed by artist IM Heung-soon in a mere email. We were corresponding about “Reincarnation,” his video installation currently on display at MoMA PS1. I had asked the 36-year-old Korean artist the most obvious question of all: the significance of his work’s title.

In a sense, the disparity between the two -- my question's simplicity, his work's complexity -- was unsurprising. IM’s art tends to estrange what feels familiar, while finding links between what seems disparate. His responses, like his art, are earnest and discerning: quick to pinpoint a discrepancy, eager to clarify what’s murky.

Both are welcome tendencies, for, when watched alone, “Reincarnation” will leave you displaced and uncertain -- especially if you’re an American. Two video feeds project on opposite walls, so that visitors must glance back and forth in a harried daze. The images seem incongruous: a veiled mother wailing on one channel is juxtaposed with the other’s tranquil ocean tides. The museum placard mentions the “foxhole circuit”: a group of female entertainers who traveled with Korean troops during the Vietnam War, then settled in Tehran, Iran. I was embarrassed to ask an artist who recently showed at the Venice and Sharjah Biennials about his work’s “plot,” until I realized just how thorny the tale was.

“Reincarnation,” in short, tracks Korean populations circulating between several countries, moved by historical reasons that Americans are, regrettably, little acquainted with. If you're a U.S. native, you probably know that armies are often accompanied by “foxhole” entertainers, but odds are you lack knowledge of the Korean circuit. You are also likely unaware -- as I was -- that Tehran was perceived as a locus of economic opportunity in the '70s, leading, for a short time, to an influx of Korean immigrants.

IM became acquainted with the Iran-settled foxhole circuit women during the 2012 Arts Council in Korea. He found their stories inspiring, for they’d “experienced all the major wars across Asia in the latter half of the 20th Century -- the Korean War when they were young, the Vietnam War as a part of the foxhole circuit, and the Iran-Iraq War after they immigrated to Iran.”

These women were the living vessels of a catastrophic time in human history, but IM is less interested in war’s intense violence than in its gradual, tragic legacy; the effects resonating across countries and through generations. Wails from Iranian mothers who lost their sons to war ripple through PS1’s industrial room, just as the film’s waves crash and crash again -- little pulses still stemming from cataclysm. His film does not aestheticize their pain, but rather interrogates the deep gashes it’s left behind. The effect is disarming. Americans, after all, have always been good at confronting the bloodshed of war, but far less adept at acknowledging its scarred legacy.

“That’s why I’m more interested in the violence within, inherent in ourselves, rather than the violence in front of us,” IM wrote, “‘Reincarnation’ is a question mark I throw at the audience, who is armed with ignorance, prejudice, apathy, and familiarity."

It’s a demanding statement, one that reaffirmed my sense that “Reincarnation” was intentionally alienating -- building on the cinematic precedents of the French Nouvelle Vague and the writings of Louis Althusser to distance rather than comfort the viewer. One technique IM lifts from that legacy is the reenactment, but he does not recreate old scenes in a traditional sense. He explained that he’s more focused on his subjects' unconscious and dreams, on finding alternative ways to convey stories that have been told many times before.

Alienation at PS1 takes place on an experiential level as well. Multiple channels cause viewers to separate and scramble their senses -- listening to sounds from one feed and region, while looking at an entirely different scene. “I was thinking about how to simultaneously show these two wars that don’t have any relevance,” IM adds. Viewers find themselves at the crossroads of old violences, swiveling back and forth, trying to piece together a cultural narrative with which they are unfamiliar.

(There’s also, I found out from IM, one less intentional cause of confusion: the fact that the videos at PS1 are only the second half of a larger artwork. The first is a multimedia installation featuring embroidery made by Korean-Iranian women and a soundtrack that interweaves their voices with those of Iranian women who lost their sons and of female victims of the Vietnam War.)

Americans will and should find the installations disarming, but I do not mean to imply that “Reincarnation” simply reiterates old alienation practices. As I reread IM's responses, a counterpoint to estrangement emerged: his gift for tracing thematic links to which we are otherwise blind.

Art focused on micro-histories may seem to subdivide the world into isolated, personal segments, making access difficult for those unacquainted with the few hundred Koreans remaining in Tehran today. But IM’s work reveals a more connective approach to history -- one that unearths the similarities between Iranian women, Korean-Iranian immigrants, and victims of the Vietnam War. Honing in on specifics lets him see how deeply they resonate with each other.

“I believe that many nations of Asia share a similar history,” IM explained, “in that they fought against, or were dominated by, the West through the process of colonization, the Cold War, and the control over natural resources.” If American viewers find themselves baffled by how Vietnam, Korea, and Iran are related, it is perhaps because we are blind to the way our country has shaped those similarities.

That global mindset reveals a shift from IM’s earlier work, which focused on micro-histories within Korea alone. A series of workshops with immigrant and migratory laborers in the early 2000s, however, spurred his interest is dislocation and diaspora. Spatial boundaries, as this new piece attests, carry little significance for him. But as he’s delved more into film, the “bigger categories of nation-states, religions, or ideologies” have taken on increasing importance. His talent is to first acknowledge those categories -- and then to dispense with them, unifying the despair felt by mothers of both Iranian and Korean soldiers with the video’s strummed soundtrack.

It's a shift in content and technique that distinguishes him from many internationally recognized Korean artists. Nikki S. Lee’s “Projects” brought her acclaim for playing with a cult of personality, Byoung Ho Kim’s sleek sculptures are a paragon of minimalism, Do Ho Suh’s heady installations warp visitor’s relationships with space. Hein-Kuhn Oh’s documentary work offers a closer analogy for IM’s, but his portraits engage with the complexities of his subject's surfaces, rather than with their interior worlds. The Korean pavilion at the Venice Biennial this year features a multi-channel video installation by Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho, but it’s a far more fanciful rendition than “Reincarnation.” Titled “The Ways of Folding Space and Flying,” the work dreams of transcending limitations instead of confronting how those limitations have shaped us.

IM’s films, on the other hand, exists between two poles: distancing us from what is familiar, while making familiar what seems so strange. It’s worth returning, then, to his explanation of the work’s title: “Pain slowly reappears when we try to escape from memory and oblivion. ‘Reincarnation’ does not seek to signify the emergence of an unprecedented phenomenon, but suggests a way of remembering the deceased and the suffering, as well as restoring conscience, morality, empathy, and justice.”

"Reincarnation" will and should challenge our (American) morality, but it also reaffirms our capacity to empathize. Empathy, here, requires reconciling the multiple streams shaping our world both inside and outside the exhibition space. It requires forging unity from a lack of narrative consistency. And it requires feeling memory’s pangs, instead of sinking into ignorant oblivion.

"Reincarnation" is on view at MoMA PS1 through Aug. 24.

An enormous thank you to Harry C.H. Choi, who was kind enough to translate both my interview questions and IM’s responses, deftly maintaining his poetic sheen.

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"I have always been drawn to the old masters, a time when art was all about beauty," artist Ted Pim explained in an email to The Huffington Post. "Every painting, every sculpture, every piece of music strove to be beautiful."

Pim is a 28-year-old street artist, born in West Belfast, whose murals adorn abandoned spaces sprinked throughout the U.S. and Europe. Yet rather than communicating in the typical street art language of bold graphics, colorful geometry and politically-bent symbols, Pim uses a visual lexicon employed by artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio. One of dark shadows, rich tones and an excess of grandeur.

"Coming out of one of the most deprived and poverty stricken areas in Western Europe, I was always fascinated with wealth and luxury," Pim explained. "When I was dragged to the local Catholic church as a child, I used to love sitting and staring at the fine art on display and motifs dripping in gold ... I liked the idea of being able to create a luxury product out of nothing, so I started painting Baroque-inspired pieces."

While the majority of such opulent artworks hang in museums, cordoned off by velvet ropes and glass barriers, Pim prefers his gold-tinged depictions in decrepit urban environments.

"I was drawn to abandoned buildings as I liked the contrast of painting detailed, Baroque-inspired pieces inside dark, neglected structures. These buildings provided me with the perfect atmosphere to create my pieces, with the end result often reflecting my surroundings -- haunting, dark figures."

Pim hypothesized his predilection for abandoned buildings references the neglected area he called home growing up. 

The juxtaposition between palatial artwork and dingy architecture is striking to be sure. And that's just the reaction Pim hopes for. "I like strong reactions, disturbing and entering the viewers' mind," he said. "I remember the feeling I had after seeing Francis Bacon’s 'Head II' as a child at the Ulster Museum in Belfast. I’ve tried to recreate that reaction in my own artwork."

See Pim's classical take on urban interventions below.

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Canada, a nation whose border security has been known to deprive residents of quality hip-hop acts, has now taken a stance against perhaps the biggest rapper of them all: Kanye West. 

Early Wednesday morning, Minnesota Timberwolves forward and Toronto native Anthony Bennett told the world that Kanye West would be playing at the closing ceremony of the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto on July 26. 

By that afternoon, the news was confirmed. And soon enough, there was a Change.org petition demanding his removal from the closing ceremony's bill because, well, Kanye's not Canadian. 

The petition had already racked up over 35,000 signatures by early Friday morning. Canadians (and perhaps people of other nationalities) really don't want Kanye to perform. 

Even Toronto Mayor John Tory has objected, telling reporters at a Wednesday press conference that he wished the artist chosen to headline the ceremony had "been a Canadian." 

Protestors would like to see a Torontonian or Canadian perform (Drake, The Weeknd and deadmau5 were suggested as replacements)."Why was a local artist or group not chosen and supported, just as our local athletes are throughout the games?" asked Allen Simans, the creator of the Change.org petition.

But let's take a step back. If the games, which are held every four years as an "Olympics of the Americas," were the "Canadian Games," then protesters would have an argument. But the Pan Am games are, well, just that: Pan-American. Kanye is American. This works. 

So too is Pitbull, a Cuban-American musical act on the bill with Kanye. Both Americans will perform at the Closing Ceremony, but Pitbull is cool to cross and Kanye's not? Get it together, Canada. Kanye's great and American and you're great and geographically above the United States. The Pan Am games are for all residents of the Americas -- not just Torontonians. 

What's really going on here? Why do thousands of Canadians hate Kanye? His seminal album, 808s & Heartbreak, is the only reason Drake exists to begin with. Shouldn't they be welcoming the father of their hip-hop messiah with open arms and fresh poutine?

 Kanye West performs at Glastonbury on June 28.

Other copycat petitions have peeled back stronger feelings of resentment towards Kanye. One petition writes, "Kanye West is an American singer, rapper, songwriter and husband to Kim Kardashian ... I believe his moral and ethical compass is not aligned with values that most Canadians adhere to."

Another provided a truly non-sensical, but equally revealing reason: "Because it's Kanye West ... Have you heard him? The Universe 'can't even' with this guy."

Ah, now we're getting somewhere. It's not just that Kanye's not Canadian -- it's that some Canadians flat-out don't like the guy. There's no separation of the art from the artist being processed here, which is problematic, especially when we're talking about one of the greatest artists of the century. Canada, let's make this work.  

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For anyone invested in drag culture, the role of of Wigstock in the narrative of queer performance is legendary. The once annual New York City drag festival, organized by drag icon Lady Bunny and Scott Lifshutz, ran for over 20 years in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s, attracting over 30,000 drag enthusiasts at its height.

For those of you who either missed this seminal festival or are nostalgic for its long-running legacy, you're in luck. Lady Bunny and Lifshutz are bring together a group of legendary performers and DJs from the '90s downton NYC nightlife era to recreate Wigstock -- this time on a cruise ship.

Scheduled for Sunday, August 16, "Wigstock's Sea Tea Cruise" will bring together Sister Dimension, Linda Simpson, HRH Princess Diandra, Flotilla Debarge, Sweetie, Sugga Pie Koko, David Ilku, Ffloyd, DJ Johnny Dynell and DC's Ed Bailey. 

"Someone recently sent me an photo spread from the UK’s Guardian featuring Michael James O’Brien’s shots from Wigstock during the 90s, calling it 'New York’s hair-raising 90s drag scene,' Lady Bunny said in a statement. "It made me nostalgic, just as people are nostalgic for clubs which don’t only play top 40 tunes and drag acts which focus more on talent than on contouring ability. Then I got wind of a new Wigstock party in South Africa in addition to other annual events in Tel Aviv, Sweden and Melbourne, Australia and had to ask myself 'Why should everyone else have all the fun?' and 'How much should I sue for?' Everyone is always telling me 'Bring back Wigstock!' so this Sea Tea cruise will test the waters, literally, and relive the party on a smaller scale. This may lead to other full-scale Wigstock festivals in the future."

"Wigstock's Sea Tea Cruise" will start to fill up at 6 p.m. on August 16, and then set sail at 7:30 at Pier 40 near Christopher Street. Head here for more information and check out photos from Wigstocks past below.

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Last summer, HuffPost Gay Voices asked transgender people to share photos of themselves on Twitter using the hashtag #WhatTransLooksLike in an effort to show just how diverse -- and beautiful! -- the trans community is.

We were absolutely gobsmacked by the response we received. In fact, people were so excited about #WhatTransLooksLike that we received countless requests for us to do another call out.

So, that's exactly what we did. And it couldn't have come at a better time. In the 12 months since our first #WhatTransLooksLike story, the "transgender tipping point" has tipped even further. 

From Caitlyn Jenner's gorgeous Vanity Fair cover and emotional ESPY Awards speech to Jazz Jenning's reality TV show debut to news that transgender soldiers may soon be able to openly serve in the military, we've continued to see stunning wins for the trans community in the last year.

Of course, there's much work left to do. Trans people still face inordinately high levels of prejudice and are regularly targeted for violence. And while representations in the media of what it means to be trans are becoming more varied and nuanced, for the most part, the images, stories and experiences of trans people still do not receive the attention they deserve.

So, for all of those reasons -- and because we simply wanted to showcase another collection of beautiful photos -- we bring you #WhatTransLooksLike2.

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