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Bette Midler To Return To Broadway In 'Hello, Dolly!'

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NEW YORK (AP) — It's a match made in musical theater heaven -- Bette Midler will star in a Broadway revival of "Hello, Dolly!"


Movie and theatrical producer Scott Rudin said Tuesday that the Divine Miss M will take on the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in a revival of the classic musical due to start next year.


"There has not been a new production in 50 years," Rudin told The Associated Press. "Partly it was the difficulty of who could play Dolly. It had to be someone who could take it to a different level. Bette is the only one who can. Never has there been something more inevitable than her in this role."


The musical tells the story of matchmaker and schemer Dolly Levi who receives her toughest challenge yet when a rich grump seeks a suitable wife. It's a musical version of Thornton Wilder's play, "The Matchmaker."


Performances on Broadway begin on March 13, 2017, with an official opening night of April 20, 2017. Rehearsals begin one year from Tuesday.


Midler and Rudin were in conversations about the role for a year. The actress and singer threw herself into researching it, reading and watching all she could, Rudin said. He added that both wanted to explore Dolly's warmth, desperation and humanity.


The show features a rousing score by Jerry Herman that's bursting with joy and tunes like "Put On Your Sunday Clothes," ''Before the Parade Passes By" and "It Only Takes a Moment."


The revival will be directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks and have choreography by Tony-winner Warren Carlyle. The creators say the new work will pay tribute to Gower Champion, the show's original director and choreographer.


Midler steps into the role previously performed by Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Betty Grable, Ethel Merman, Martha Raye, Ginger Rogers and, of course, Carol Channing, who originated it on Broadway in 1964 -- it ran for seven years and became the longest playing Broadway musical at the time -- and who came back in revivals in 1995-96 and 1978. Barbra Streisand also played Dolly on screen in a 1969 film version directed by Gene Kelly.


It marks Midler's first time back on Broadway since she was in the exhausting 2013 one-woman Broadway show "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers," which was a huge box office hit, recouped its $2.4 million investment in just over eight weeks but garnered no Tony Award nominations.


In a 2014 interview with The Associated Press, Midler insisted she had no hard feelings for the snub. "I thought it was a fantastic experience. It was like being in a bubble, in a dream. It was completely out of body. I don't know how I did it."


Midler made her Broadway debut as Tzeitel in the original production of "Fiddler on the Roof" and later returned in concerts, including "Bette Midler's Clams on a Half Shell Revue" and "Bette! Divine Madness," which earned her a special Tony Award in 1974. She also was a producer of the musical "Priscilla Queen of the Desert."


Midler is the recipient of three Grammys, four Golden Globes and three Emmys. Her films include "The Rose," ''Gypsy," ''Hocus Pocus," "The First Wives Club," "Beaches" and "For the Boys." Her latest album is "A Gift of One."


Rudin, who has been a fan of Midler's for years and produced her film "The First Wives Club," said she is the perfect choice -- an electric singer, a powerful actress and a savvy stage veteran. "Shows used to be built around a star like this," he said. "Now it will again." 


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Viral Video Reveals The Problematic Way Society Views Breasts

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One week after a video he made about public breastfeeding video went viral, Joey Salads is back with another social experiment that looks at the problematic way people often treat nursing moms. 


The "Sexy vs. Breastfeeding" experiment compares the way people react to a mom nursing her baby in public and the way they treat a model in a low-cut top. While the woman in the "sexy" outfit receives looks of approval from male passersby, the breastfeeding mom is scolded and called "disgusting."


While the reactions seem pretty staged, the message of the video is still meaningful, as women today are frequentlyshamed for nursingin public. The video received nearly 50 million views on Facebook in less than 24 hours and prompted a lot of discussion about this issue. 


As commenter Natalia B. Vázquez wrote, "[The video] IS fake, but this really happens every day."


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Write Your Own Eerie Tale With The Edgar Allan Poe Short Story Generator

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On the 207th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, residents of his hometown are celebrating with appropriate weirdness by watching a man mysteriously dressed in black make a toast near the writer's grave.


If you don't live in Baltimore, or if you're generally not interested in celebrating your favorite authors by bequeathing them flowers and cognac, you can always construct a Poe-inspired short story instead -- no masks or brandy required. 


Our story and title generators hark back to the macabre language of high school reading lists. To play along, fill in the eeriest of adjectives and presidential candidates below.  


Step 1: Write your story.




Step 2: Name your story.




Step 3: Pat yourself on the back, you did it.


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How Attending Comic-Con Tested This Introvert's Comfort Zone

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This article first appeared on QuietRev.com


It was inevitable that our 5-year-old daughter, Kavya, would inherit our nerdy ways. My wife and I were those kids who escaped reality by sitting in the back of the school bus, huddled in a corner of the playground, hiding under the duvet with a flashlight way past bedtime…reading. Books. Magazines. Comics. Even the back of the cereal box was fair game. I relished the time I had all to myself to be transported to the worlds of American superheroes, oppressed aliens, Indian gods and goddesses, and stories set in mysterious British castles, where little children ate delicacies like crumpets and jam-tarts.


I was totally unprepared for my daughter to become a hybrid form of nerd: the outgoing, communal kind, who loves dressing up and being the center of attention without any concern about what other people think. Kavya sees no problem with wading through crowds, waiting in lines, and—worst of all—talking to people. On purpose. When she was about 8 months old, her first word was hi, and she would use it everywhere, particularly on the New York City subway, where nobody likes talking. I hated being drawn into conversations with perfectly lovely people, who would start googleee-moogleeing with my daughter and then, out of courtesy, engage in a totally unnecessary conversation with me.


At 5 years old, though, my daughter isn’t as fearless about talking to random people as she once was, and part of it is probably the fact that she understands social cues and the don’t-talk-to-me vibes people give off. I also think it’s me. She is a wonderful blend of introverted and extroverted, and I am constantly second-guessing whether I am forcing my introverted ways onto my ambivert daughter.


To support my daughter’s outgoing side, I found myself in the last place I thought I would ever be seen: Comic-Con. In cosplay. (Cosplay is short for costume play; dressing up as a character is a popular way to attend Comic-Con.) I became that Papa who took his daughter out of school “due to Comic-Con” (in hindsight, I probably could have used a more creative excuse when calling my daughter’s school).


A year before Comic-Con, I actively encouraged cosplay even though we didn’t call it that. Last year, she became totally obsessed with the original Star Wars trilogy for months, in particular Princess Leia, who was completely unlike any of the other princesses she had seen. This one was funny and witty, brandished weapons, saved the boys, and had the best hairstyles.


 



Every Friday, I would pick Kavya up early. I’d dress up as Luke Skywalker, and she’d be Princess Leia because she liked the idea of me being her little brother and by definition knowing more than me. We’d use clothes we had around the house and complete our costumes with belts made from foil. I learned how to make my own version of the iconic buns with colorful Punjabi hair accessories called parandis, and she would sit riveted for hours watching a story she initially didn’t fully understand. Then it was X-Men, especially weather-controlling Storm, and then it was Katara from The Last Airbender. Dressing up and exploring these stories together became our thing. And it was totally cool because we were in the comfort of our home, in the quiet.


Ever since we brought home stacks of comics during Free Comic Book Day in New York a year ago, she has been in love with the medium. So, New York Comic-Con was a logical place for her to want to go. And she immediately loved the idea of cosplay, which I found terrifying: going out in public, navigating through crowds, dressed up in some dopey outfit. (The outfit that in the solitude of your home is fantastic immediately gets transformed to dopey when exposed to public view.) I might be able to bust out a sewing needle to re-attach a button, but a costume worthy of Comic-Con? No way. I’m not the Papa who flawlessly chisels entire costumes out of metal. I’m the Papa who goes to the dollar store and hopes for the best. But it wasn’t about the convention, or the comics, or the characters, or even the cosplay: she saw it as something we could do together. A Papa-Daughter thing.


I tried to get her to change her mind but immediately felt guilty about it. It’s not that difficult to break a child by discouraging her from expressing herself. It’s not like she was asking for much—she just wanted to hang out with her Papa doing what we usually do. The public aspect of it didn’t register on her radar the way it did on mine. So, to embrace being Kavya’s Papa, I decided to embrace the idea of public cosplay.


One trip to the dollar store and four outfits later, she couldn’t have been more thrilled: for the first two days, she was Princess Leia with me as her sidekick, Luke Skywalker (because in Kavya’s world, Luke Skywalker is no more than a sidekick to Princess Leia). The second and third days, she was waterbending Katara from The Last Airbender with me as a pre-scar firebending Zuko (the eye makeup didn’t go very well).



I’d like to say that a major reason things went pretty smoothly during our Comic-Con adventure is because I planned them out. But the truth is I prolonged getting to the venue because I was petrified of the images I saw on the Internet of huge lines outside Comic-Con before the doors even opened. I’m pretty sure this is what the scene looks like just before the bulls start trampling people in Spain. We took a leisurely approach to getting there, taking in a big lunch in nearby Koreatown and showing up in the middle of the afternoon when—according to common sense—lines were shorter and crowds smaller.


We did a lot of roaming around, particularly in less crowded areas, and I gave her a budget of $10 a day—that’s a lot of one-dollar comic books! She loved seeing various interpretations of characters and followed one woman dressed as Princess Leia all the way down an aisle so she could see her R2D2 umbrella. My ambivert nerdy daughter was in her element. All of the cosplayers were very impressed with her outfit (less so with mine), and Kavya felt totally at ease.


I still hated the crowds, waiting in lines, and talking to people, but I enjoyed watching my daughter beaming when she animatedly told people her Papa made her Princess Leia buns, declaring, and I quote, “He is a professional. He can make yours next time.” She swapped tips with professional cosplayers and asked to pose for tons of photos with some of her beloved characters.


I stepped out of my comfort zone for my daughter, but cosplay and comic books are still our little world. Her interests are still developing, and it was wonderful to have been a part of encouraging them. While she did graciously allow me to attend a few panels on diversity in comics and on characters we both like, she thankfully didn’t have any interest in the super popular panels with lines that made me feel like there was a limited amount of air supply. We already have plans to attend next year.


When I asked her on the subway ride home what her favorite part of Comic-Con was, I expected her to talk about the two training certificates she got from the Jedi Knight Training classes, or the workshop she took in designing her own superhero, or watching the Advanced Screening of Supergirl. Instead, her response was, “The best part was walking around and eating popcorn with my Papa.” The heart swells, and the nerd in me suddenly feels the need to stand in a line with his daughter. Just not outside before the place opens.



2015-02-04-Joni_Blecher_150x150.jpg
This article originally appeared on QuietRev.com.

You can find more insights from Quiet Revolution on work, life, and parenting as an introvert at QuietRev.com.

Follow Quiet Revolution on Facebook and Twitter.




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Stop Giving New York Transplants All The Credit For Detroit’s Art Scene

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While a former New York arts venue heralded for moving to Detroit could now clear a few million dollars by selling one of its recently acquired buildings, local artists who made the Motor City a cultural destination are struggling for resources and recognition.


It's the latest example of how an influx of development and mostly white newcomers could shape the majority-black city as longtime residents fear they'll be shut out of its future.


Local artists, in particular, are grappling with the city’s changes while seeing their own work minimized, whether it's in a recent article highlighting nine artists -- all white -- explaining why they live in Detroit, or in the description of a new gallery as the first of its kind in the city, or in Detroit's place on a list of of "most influential art cities" for the achievements of people who recently moved there.


Other longtime residents wonder why it appears to be easier for newcomers to get funding.


“Art has always been created here, but people are now watching us more,” jessica Care moore -- poet, publisher and Black Women Rock producer -- told NPR last spring. “Support for the arts is a problem. Who gets the money is an issue, and people of color are last on the list."


Galapagos Art Space is the most notable newcomer, announcing in late 2014 that it was moving out of Brooklyn after nearly 20 years because New York had become unaffordable for artists. Galapagos' executive director, Robert Elmes, bought eight buildings -- including two former schools, a power plant and a hospital -- in Highland Park, a small city surrounded by Detroit that faces similar struggles. He bought another building on the outskirts of Corktown, one of Detroit's most desirable neighborhoods. 


Elmes described his development plan as a new funding model for the arts and has since received an abundance of praise and press. 


A mile from the Galapagos complex, another Highland Park arts space is preparing for its summer opening. So far, Liquid Flow Media Arts Center has received little media attention, grants or large investors. It's instead relied on community support through fundraisers like the Penny for the Inner City Arts campaign, which involved Liquid Flow founder Stacy’e Jones giving organizations and businesses jars so they could collect change to donate to the arts center.


“When I saw that [Galapagos was] coming to Highland Park, I felt like I was in a race to complete what we’ve been working on for so long, just so we don’t get overshadowed and hidden when Galapagos actually opens up,” Jones said.



Galapagos is still developing its venue, which is expected to include performance space, studios, a gallery and a massive indoor lake.


But the organization came under scrutiny earlier this month when it put its Detroit property up for sale for $6.25 million -- more than 12 times what it paid for the property in 2013, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. Critics saw the proposed sale as a case of real estate speculation that contradicted Galapagos’ stated intentions and could fuel gentrification in Corktown. 



Here’s what I’m hoping, is that he doesn’t come here and that you start pushing people out of the spaces they’re in. ... Don’t come and make this city something else.



Elmes said allowing another group to redevelop the building “will have a large impact on the idea of Detroit coming back” and could stimulate economic activity in the neighborhood. He and his wife are selling the property to scale back while they focus on caring for their son, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year.


"If we can indeed move the equity that the Corktown building has gained out into one of the neighborhoods, which haven’t shared as fairly in Detroit’s comeback as they should, then we can have an impact where it’s needed more and do it faster," Elmes told The Huffington Post in an email. 



Liquid Flow is small compared to Galapagos' 460,000 square feet in Highland Park, but Jones, a DJ, has a grand vision for her arts and education space. She hopes it will eventually include a recording studio in the attic, a public computer lab, a venue for art events, and classes in subjects such as computer literacy and music production.


A few years ago, Jones was running an online radio station when teenagers slowly started showing up, asking for career guidance or advice on how to use a camera. Word spread, and one day she arrived at work to find two dozen kids crammed into the recording studio, all there to learn.


She realized she wanted to bring that kind of environment to the youth in her own neighborhood, where the public high school and library have both been shuttered. Jones said she hopes Galapagos, which has taken over the former school, will get feedback from neighbors about what they want in the community.


Elmes has been working with a variety of local groups, like the Highland Park High School Alumni Association, and he agreed to donate space in the former school building to store the group's archives and display its memorabilia. Glenda McDonald, a board member and city council member who is a resident of Highland Park, said she's excited to see how Galapagos will enrich the city. 



A few blocks from Galapagos, a third Highland Park venue is quietly celebrating its 10th year in business. Nandi’s Knowledge Cafe is a bookstore, gallery and restaurant that hosts weekly poetry nights, West African dance classes and film screenings. 


Like others cheering on Galapagos, owner Nandi Frye welcomes another local art space. She’s eager to see new jobs, occupants in vacant buildings and economic development for a city that critically needs them. But she still has reservations.


“Here’s what I’m hoping, is that he doesn’t come here and that you start pushing people out of the spaces they’re in,” Frye said. “Rents go up high and you get a whole 'nother white city -- that’s what I don’t want. That’s what people are afraid of. Don’t come and make this city something else.”


 





Detroit artist Tiff Massey addressed similar concerns in a track she released last week called "Detroit is Black." In an earlier video promoting her work, which can be seen above, she confronts gentrification and rejects the often-repeated idea that the city is a "blank slate" or a canvas for newcomers' entrepreneurial or artistic projects. 


“People live here. People live here. People live here,” Massey insists urgently as the song ends.


Jenenne Whitfield is the executive director of the Heidelberg Project, a nonprofit that supports her husband Tyree Guyton's decades-long public art project to transform Detroit's vacant houses into works of art. The Heidelberg Project has withstood city-ordered demolitions and repeated arsons for the last 30 years, but Guyton is never discouraged: He simply builds something new.


Whitfield has a similar attitude about the future of Detroit arts: “Detroit’s art scene will continue to flourish because of Detroiters. That’s it!”


Kate Abbey-Lambertz covers sustainable cities, housing and inequality. Tips? Feedback? Send an email or follow her on Twitter.



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Go Behind The Scenes Of Alan Cumming's New 'Sappy Songs' Album

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Alan Cumming opens up about the inspiration for his new album, "Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the Café Carlyle," in this exclusive, behind-the-scenes video for The Huffington Post.


"I really feel like I am a cabaret artist," Cumming explains in the clip. "I love that connection with the audience." 


Last year, the "Good Wife" and "X2: X-Men United" star performed an acclaimed run at New York's super-intimate Café Carlyle shortly after his return stint in Broadway's "Cabaret" wrapped downtown.



Due out Feb. 5 on Yellow Sound Label, "Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs" captures that performance for posterity. Fans can expect to hear Cumming's take on songs by Billy Joel, Rufus Wainwright and Miley Cyrus, as well as a selection of Broadway show tunes and world music.  


Cumming will celebrate the release of the album with a Feb. 8 performance at New York's Carnegie Hall, with special guests Kristin Chenoweth, Darren Criss and Ricki Lake. 


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Hold On, We're Going Home To Finish This Epic Drake Coloring Book

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If you're reading this, it's too late to order the unofficial Drake coloring book.


Just kidding! There are plenty available. And they'll definitely make your hotline bling: 



Under Star Projectors: The Unofficial Drake Coloring Book is the handiwork of an epic team of illustrators via U.K.-based Sugoi Books. The booklet includes 32 pages of colorless Drakes, just waiting for you to call them on their cell phones... or color them in, of course.


You can order the book online for about $14, including shipping to the U.S. And for a limited time, the code "FOREVER" will get you 20 percent off your order. 




Adult coloring books have recently increased in popularity as a way to relieve stress, reduce anxiety and relax the body by lowering activity in certain parts of the brain.


And now, you can do it all with Drake. #Winning.


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Cities Could Soon Be Connected By One 'Endless' Orchard

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Imagine a future in which cities and neighborhoods across the world are not only full of fruit trees, but mapped and labeled so that you can walk up to them and pick the fruit yourself -- for free.


That's the ambition held by the LA-based nonprofit art collective Fallen Fruit, organized by Austin Young and David Burns.


With volunteers, Young and Burns have been planting fruit in cities around the world since 2004, from Guadalajara, Mexico to Denver, Colorado and Madrid, Spain.


But because money doesn't grow on trees, they're asking for $20,000 on Kickstarter to make sure "The Endless Orchard," a collection of fruit trees mapped and organized online, actually stretches across the globe.





The "Endless Orchard" will connect their already established "Urban Fruit Trails," walking trails that connect neighborhoods with public fruit trees.


They'll start in a food desert in LA, providing residents with 200 trees they can adopt and care for by either planting in their neighborhood or in public parks.


"The project relies on those who know a city best," they write on their website, "the people who live there -- to envision what their own neighborhood would be like with the addition of trees bearing fruit, knitted together with other neighborhoods by pathways of apples, peaches, apricots and pears."


Here's how it works, according to their Kickstarter campaign:



Individuals plant the trees in front of their homes and businesses, and as the branches grow over the sidewalks, anyone can get a taste of this collaborative work of edible art. It's also a way to navigate these Urban Fruit Trails (fruit trees that are planted, tended and harvested by the public) via a free online portal that allows the public to explore, create, plant, map and share these experiences.



They'll also develop a website that will let you map the trees that are available for sharing.


You can already share your fruit now. E-mail them at info@fallenfruit.org to be a part of the Urban Fruit Trails in your city.


Follow them on Twitter and Facebookfor new maps, and who knows -- the next time you want a fresh apricot, all you'll have to do is pick up your phone, pull up a map, and all the fruit trees in your neighborhood appear, ready for you to pick.


That's something we can root for.


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13 Honest Books About Slavery Young People Should Actually Read

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This week, after severe criticism, Scholastic pulled a newly published picture book entitled A Birthday Cake for Mr. Washington. The book, which was written by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, focused on George Washington's enslaved cook, Hercules, and his daughter Delia, as the two overcome obstacles to make a cake for Washington's birthday.


Many critics argued that it displayed an overly rosy view of a slave's life, and the book was deluged with one-star on Amazon reviews.


The book's publication was a surprising misstep coming from an author/illustrator team of two women of color. Experienced illustrator Brantley-Newton, in particular, has a long resumé working on projects with a strong basis in black history and culture. What's more, the book's editor, Andrea Davis Pinkney, is a Coretta Scott King Award-winner in her own right, as well as the founder of Jump at the Sun, an African-American-focused children's book imprint at Hyperion. 


It's not the first such misstep in recent months, however; last fall, McGraw-Hill apologized after a Texas mother, Roni Dean-Burren, publicly criticized her son's World Geography textbook for euphemistically describing Africans brought to America in the slave trade as "workers." Another picture book, A Fine Dessert, drew critiques for author Emily Jenkins and illustrator Sophie Blackall (both white) for including a seemingly cheerful slave mother and daughter making blackberry fool and serving it to the family of their master. 


Though Ganeshram defended A Birthday Cake for Mr. Washington as portraying the ingenuity of slaves who were able to attain better treatment through their skills and closeness to their owners, context matters. While the writer-illustrator-editor team who worked on this book come from diverse backgrounds and are steeped in historically accurate renditions of black history, the fact remains that too many Americans -- particularly white Americans -- don't grasp, or prefer not to grasp, the depth and breadth of slavery's horrors. 


It's not uncommon to see clueless social media posts or read obtuse comments by politicians arguing that slavery ultimately benefited African-Americans because it brought them to America, or that they were better off under slavery than they are now. Remember, for example, rebellious Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's assertion that black Americans were "better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things," or conservative politicos including Michele Bachmann signing a pro-family pledge reminiscing fondly about the intact family lives of slaves.


Many children, and, sadly, their parents, still need to learn that slavery wasn't idyllic, a boon to their family lives, or an improvement over remaining in their homelands. In fact, slavery was often brutal and dehumanizing even when owners exhibited basic kindness. Slaves were often sold away from their families and loved ones with no notice, destroying what little domestic life they were allowed to have; and the severing of black Americans from their ancestors and heritage in Africa is an irreversible trauma.


These are tough facts to confront kids with, especially young kids, but it's better to start with small doses of truth rather than sowing the seeds for "smiling slave" mythologies. Here are 13 (mostly) honest books for young readers that will help them confront the unpalatable truth of slavery, and celebrate the ingenuity and strength of those who resisted, escaped and survived.



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'The Bachelor' Season 20, Episode 3 Recap: The Bachelor Mansion Turns Toxic

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After a months-long hiatus, "The Bachelor" franchise has returned, this time with all-American family man Ben "Unlovable" Higgins at its center. And on "Here To Make Friends," we talk about all of it -- for the right reasons.


In this week's "Here To Make Friends" podcast, hosts Claire Fallon and Emma Gray recap Episode 3 of "The Bachelor," Season 20. We'll discuss all of the racially charged microaggressions Jubilee had to deal with, the women's subpar soccer skills AND the merits of "bad toes." 





We'll also hear from "Dr. Love" himself -- aka the man responsible for last week's super awkward Love Lab date.



 


See who made the cut this week in the handy graphic above, and check out the full recap of Episode 3 by listening to the podcast below!





Do people love "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise," or do they love to hate these shows? 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. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.


The best tweets about this week's episode of "The Bachelor"...


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Tantric Paintings And The World Of Outsider Art In India

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What is outsider art?


It's a question we've been asking a lot this month, in the weeks leading up to one of the genre's biggest events: the Outsider Art Fair. It's difficult enough to summarize the characteristically "raw" creativity of the American painters, photographers, printmakers, illustrators and multimedia pioneers who create on the periphery, often in isolation or as the result of a loosely unconventional upbringing.


It's even more difficult to pinpoint an overarching theme that connects the outsider artists across the globe. 


Hervé Perdriolle, a collector, curator and dealer who specializes in Indian contemporary art, attributes some of this blurriness to the fact that our conception of contemporary art itself is changing as artists from local cultures -- oftentimes outside the so-called mainstream market -- enter into mainstream consciousness. 



"The borders between contemporary art and outsider art are more and more permeable," Perdriolle explained to The Huffington Post. "Nowadays, we have access to a different kind of contemporary art ... issued from local cultures. This type of contemporary art is developing beyond the idea of cultural ethnocentrism. I am especially fascinated by this."


As a curator, Perdriolle has been involved in the first Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring exhibitions in Paris; he also helped found the city's first "Galerie de l'art modeste." His current, eponymous gallery in Paris has been showcasing primarily Indian artists since 1996. "At the time only few people were interested in Indian Art," he added. "The fascination for this country and its multi-millennial culture entirely justified our departure to India where my family and myself lived between 1996 to 1999."



Perdriolle will be taking part in the Outsider Art Fair this year, exhibiting three distinct groups of paintings. The first group, gathered together by Franck André Jamme, centers around a series of abstract Hindu Tantric paintings, vivid artworks intended for use in meditation. Made in tempera, gouache and watercolor on salvaged paper, the simple images featuring oblong ovals are meant to be pinned to the wall during meditative practice. 


"While they invoke the highly symbolic cosmology of Hindu Tantra, these contemporary, anonymous paintings from Rajasthan are unlike the more familiar strands of Tantric Art," Perdriolle writes online. "The progeny of handwritten, illustrated religious treatises from the 17th century, copied over many generations, these paintings have evolved into a distinct visual lexicon used to awaken heightened states of consciousness.


"It is a stunning set realized by tantric priests between 1993 and 2015," Perdriolle noted in our interview.



The second group is dedicated to the late self-taught artist Vyakul, born in 1930 in Rajasthan, whose work is situated between outsider and tantric art, and has been collected by the Agnès B. Gallery in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art. His unique color palette is a result of the handmade pigments he sources from plants, stones, clay, cow’s urine, coal, glues, flowers and powders. 


Finally, the third group focuses on Jean-Daniel Allanche, another self-taught artist of French descent who was born in Tunisia in 1940. Although not from India, Allanche's paintings are complemented by a vast accumulation of collected objects, including African and Indian sculptures he purchased while traveling and living throughout the regions. Over the course of 40 years, "he constantly painted and repainted the floors, walls and ceilings of his flat," Perdriolle said. "During his life, he always refused to show his work. Therefore his work will be on exhibit for the first time."



After gazing upon Perdriolle's collection, it's perhaps no easier to generalize on the paintings' relation to outsider art, but there are some elements that stand out. Whether his artists are creating anonymously, self-taught, or self-sustained, their work is distinct in its obsessive quality. The tantric priests create and recreate, over and over, while Vyakul -- though he produces paintings only a few times each year and for just a few days -- is "overrun" and "overwhelmed" by the desire to work, according to Perdriolle's descriptions. Allanche, with his knack for painting from floor to ceiling, seems similarly fanatically inspired.


Beyond their obsessive methods, there is one thing that is markedly absent in their work: ego. The colors, shapes and forms seem to exist far outside the personas of their creators, untarnished by temporary trends or galleries or a necessity to sell. Whether or not a lack of ego is required for outsider art, in the United States or India, it certainly plays a part in the raw creative world these "outsider artists" occupy. 


Galerie Hervé Perdriolle's collection will be on view at booth 38 during the Outsider Art Fair, from Jan. 21-24, 2016, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.



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'Hijabis Of New York' Gives Muslim Women The Attention They Deserve

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Activist and student Rana Abdelhamid hopes to dispel common misconceptions about the hijab -- a highly-politicized head covering worn by some Muslim women -- with her Tumblr and Facebook page "Hijabis of New York." 


In the face of rising Islamophobia and intolerance of Muslim Americans, Abdelhamid started the project with several fellow activists in October 2014 in order "to raise awareness, to humanize and diversify the image that people have of Muslim women,” Abdelhamid, 22, told The Huffington Post. Abdelhamid based her idea off the popular "Humans of New York" blog and social media project that celebrates the city's diversity through photos and interviews.


When she approaches "hijabis," or women who wear the hijab, with questions about faith and identity, Abdelhamid said she often finds that "women want to talk about this stuff." The challenge, she said, is creating safe spaces and platforms for them to do so.


One young woman who started wearing the hijab four months prior to the interview reflected



"This year has been all about the start of new beginnings. The last few months alone, a lot has happened that I’m really...

Posted by Hijabis of New York on Sunday, October 11, 2015


Universal topics like identity, health, career and family come up as well. One of the most popular posts ever, Abdelhamid said, had to do with the sexualization of women. "It showed the frustration women face because of patriarchal standards, which I think can resonate with any woman," said Abdelhamid, who is currently working toward a Master of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 


The project is personal for Abdelhamid. When she was 16 years old, she told HuffPost, a man approached her on a New York street and attempted to remove her hijab. The "disturbing" experience lead Abdelhamid to start a self-defense and leadership program, called the Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE), for young Muslim women in New York City.



Hijabis of New York is run by women under the auspices of WISE, and for both initiatives it makes a big difference that the people behind them are Muslim women, Abdelhamid said.


"There's something to it when [Muslim women are] leading our own empowerment movement,"Abdelhamid said.


Abdelhamid recently took Hijabis of New York to Madrid, Spain when she went to lead a WISE workshop. She plans to visit London next and said she hopes to continue sharing stories from Muslim women she meets around the globe. 



 


Also on HuffPost:


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Yes, That's A Real Model Posing Underwater With Sharks

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With shark fin soup continuing to feed the practice of finning -- cutting off the animal's dorsal fin and throwing the rest of it back into the water to die --conservationists still have a lot of work to do.


Theirs is a tough job. In addition to providing the usual arguments that a particular creature is essential to a healthy ecosystem (which sharks are), ocean conservationists have to fight a universal perception of sharks as ruthless, cold-blooded man-killers (which they aren't).


Seeing that perception as a challenge, photographer Benjamin Von Wong decided to see if he could change it by showing how humans and sharks might peacefully coexist. And that's how he ended up weighting down a model in a coral reef in Fiji, snapping pictures of the toothy animals swimming by.



"I wanted to create a series of images that would help break those stereotypes," Von Wong explained in a blog post


The project is a collaboration with Shark Stewards, a San-Francisco-based nonprofit that works for shark conservation in California and all over the world, to promote a petition to help establish a Southeast Asian shark sanctuary and no-kill policy for the animals. In an email to The Huffington Post, the photographer explained how the project came together on donated time. 


With help from the Fiji travel board, Von Wong found a location in the resort Barefoot Islands, which provided food and housing along with a shark expert and team of support divers. The model's dress, made by Indonesian designer Ali Charisma pro bono, was shipped there. The model, Australian free diver Amber Bourke, flew herself in, too.  



In the final images, Bourke appears to float against the coral backdrop, holding a plastic shepherd's hook while wearing the ethereal white gown. Sharks circle her in a sort of utopian oceanscape.


With a background in engineering -- Von Wong quit in 2012 to pursue his passion -- the photographer is particularly suited to creating "pictures people think are Photoshopped," as his Instagram bio claims. Indeed, we suspected he'd done a lot of digital wand-waving, but the photos are actually the result of very careful planning.


Since lighting underwater was only good between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., the team had to shoot on three different days to get the best shots. Even when the sun cooperated, underwater communication proved difficult. Bourke breathed through a mask until curious white-tipped reef sharks appeared, at which point she'd quickly remove the mask and pose for as long as she could. 



As for the terrifying sharks, Von Wong compared them to "squirrels at a park," describing how the animals would scurry away if another diver got too close. White-tipped reef sharks, a common species in Southeast Asian waters, are known for their easygoing disposition, and most never reach more than five feet in length.


In a video describing the project, the photographer neatly summed it all up: "Just like sharks are the shepherds of the sea, we are the shepherds of our generation." 



To sign the conservation petition, head to Change.org.


 


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Hypnotic Classical Music Mashup Will Take You To Your Happy Place

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They say if it’s not baroque don’t fix it, but musician, producer and mashup artist Grant Woolard’s classical music mashup is a total masterpiece.


The mashup in the video above features 57 famous classical tunes by 33 composers including Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Chopin.


Even if you’re not a fan of classical music, the iconic melodies that have been etched into our collective psyches through advertising and -- let’s just admit it, Looney Tunes cartoons -- flows so seamlessly together that listening to it is oddly satisfying.


This is not Woolard’s first musical contribution to the wily world of YouTube. The Northern California-based, one-man production team has been crafting strange yet alluring sounding videos since 2010 while living in Japan. One of Woolard's most intriguing videos is Beatles mashup, which includes 25 of the fab four’s love songs.


According to an interview he did with This Blog Rules, Woolard has been playing the piano since he was 7 years old and stopped formally taking classes his first year in college. But despite his lack of a teacher, he thinks his playing has gotten better.


“I think I’ve improved the most since I started recording myself for videos, because it has forced me to listen to all my imperfections and correct them,” he told the blog.


Well, there’s at least one big perk to looking bach on your work.


 


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How One Author Used Twitter To Write A Thrilling Choose Your Own Adventure Story

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When Twitter announced that it would allow users to create two-question polls, the news was met with the usual groaning aversion (remember the star-to-heart debacle?). Sarcastic and nonsensical uses of the new tool cropped up across the social network.


While writer Jedediah Berry understood tweeters’ cynicism -- “I honestly might have rolled my eyes,” he told The Huffington Post in an email -- he saw Twitter polls as an opportunity to tell stories in a new way.


“I realized that I could use the polls function as a means for involving readers in the making of a story,” he said, and he quickly tweeted a few fictional lines followed by a choose-your-own adventure-like option for readers.


Although Berry wasn’t sure where the story was going (“that was kind of the point,” he said), what emerged was “Untine,” a tale about a talking owl and a labyrinthine forest, told in rich, earthy language.






The polls that end each line of text involve voting not only on verbs -- and therefore the actions the characters take -- but also whimsical nouns, like “I’m sorry about your wind garden” versus “I’m sorry about your clockwork.” This allows the audience to be involved not only in the story’s plot, but also in its tone and intricate details.


Berry -- a self-described longtime fan of Choose Your Own Adventure books -- is used to telling stories in an unconventional manner. He grew up playing narrative games like "Zork" and the "Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," which might explain why his tales are embellished with fantastical elements. He’s even written a fictional story in the form of a deck of cards.


Unlike some other writers who’ve used Twitter as a means of crowd-sourcing works of fiction, Berry mostly controls the options presented to readers, rather than incorporating the audiences’ words and suggestions.






“I have heard from readers hoping for particular twists,” Berry said. “In one case, a suggestion inspired one poll option. Mostly, though, I hear from readers celebrating their 'victories' when their favorite choices win out -- or bemoaning the fact that their choice wasn’t the majority pick.


Which isn’t to say that readers didn’t challenge Berry to consider plot devices he’s less familiar with. He feels his audience had significant sway in determining how the story would unfold -- and they were even able to vote on the story’s final lines. Imagine if the same liberties had been given to, say, Harry Potter fans.


“I love seeing how readers want our protagonist to act,” Berry said. “They've made her fearless, and she often defied what other characters think she should do. Often, too, my readers’ choices differ from what I know I would do if I’d been alone with the text. Figuring out how to respond to narrative instincts other than my own is an exciting challenge.” 


Also on HuffPost:


How Social Media Changed The Way We Read Books 


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This Family Has Been Looking After Buenos Aires' Soles For Six Decades

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Just over six decades ago, in 1955, on a small street in Buenos Aires' Palermo district, Felix Correa founded Calzados Correa, a maker of men's shoes. He opened a workshop, hired the best Argentine, Spanish and Italian craftsmen he could find, then started selling the shoes they made by walking up and down the streets of his neighborhood, knocking on doors in search of customers.

Slowly, his reputation grew.

"You are going to be the best craftsman ever," his customers told him. "We will still wear your shoes when you are gone."

Read the full story at The Huffington Post.

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For His New Act, Beloved Drag Queen John 'Lypsinka' Epperson Is A Man Unmasked

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When he takes to the stage of New York's Feinstein's/54 Below this week, John Epperson will be getting back to his roots -- in more ways than one.


"I was trained as a classical pianist and did traditional musical comedy when I was in college and after. But that was before I moved to New York," Epperson, 60, told The Huffington Post in an interview. 


To face his fear, Epperson created one of the world's most legendary drag queens, Lypsinka, in the 1980s. As it turns out, Epperson's decision to gender-bend paid off. Lypsinka proceeded to make the stage and screen rounds, most recently in the off-Broadway revival of the classic musical, "Once Upon A Mattress," last year in New York.



Epperson's new act, "An Evening With Lypsinka's Maid," will see him stripping away the artifice once more for an eclectic set of standards and lesser-known Broadway show tunes. The star says fans of Lypsinka will hopefully enjoy the show, too.


"I just love to sing and play the piano, and I want the audience to not only see it, but enjoy it," he said. "I hope my enjoyment is contagious. It's a challenge to make oneself vulnerable, but it's a must."  


Although Lypsinka made a name for herself years before "RuPaul's Drag Race" became a smash, Epperson is unsure of how he'd have risen to fame in a world dominated by the likes of Bianca Del Rio, Pandora Boxx and Sheangela, among other famous queens. 


"I would never attempt it," he said of the smash Logo series. "I had The Pyramid Club as a launching pad in the '80s, similar to Bette Midler's launching pad in the '70s, the Continental Baths."



As drag becomes more prominent in mainstream popular culture, he said, there is a downside. 


"One young person who wants to be a drag performer -- someone who has traditional theatre training -- told me he finds the drag field over-saturated," he said. "That's probably true."


For now, Epperson is just happy to be himself, and sees his Feinstein's/54 Below run as a chance for audiences to see him "not hiding behind a mask of makeup and someone else's voice." 


John Epperson performs in "An Evening With Lypsinka's Maid" at New York's Feinstein's/54 on Jan. 20, 21 and 23. Head here for more details. 


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Why Big Auction Houses Want In On The Growing Outsider Art Craze

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Cara Zimmerman is a specialist in folk and outsider art at Christie's auction house, the first to ever hold the position. The fact that the world's largest auction house is now representing the work of artists like Bill Traylor, Martin Ramirez and William Edmondson speaks volumes to the rise of outsider art's popularity in recent years. 


Since the term "outsider art" was coined by Roger Cardinal in 1972, its advocates and devotees have worked tirelessly to bring these self-taught makers the recognition as bonafide artists they deserve. For a while, it was a frustrating, uphill battle. As gallerist Carl Hammer explained in an earlier interview with The Huffington Post: "People refused to look at what we were offering as art."



Well, if Christie's upcoming outsider and vernacular art auction is any indication, outsider art has finally inched its way into the art marketplace, and for those who have been there since the beginning, the whole thing is kind of surreal. 


Zimmerman, who previously worked at The Foundation for Self Taught Artists in Philadelphia, has the weighty task of locating these great outsider art objects, researching them, and finding them an owner. Of course, given the thick layer of mystery that often enshrouds outsider artists and their work, this is no easy feat, but a true labor of love.


"I was always attracted to things that are unusual," Zimmerman explained to HuffPost. After majoring in folklore as an undergraduate, Zimmerman was taken by the work of outsider artist Henry Darger. Specifically, his iconic "Realms of the Unreal," a 15,145-page epic in which the evil, Satan worshipping Glandelinians battle the pure of heart Abbieannians, led by seven princesses known as the Vivian Girls. The text was accompanied by hundreds of artworks, measuring up to ten feet wide, transforming Darger's gruesome acts of violence and ambivalent morality into unforgettable, watercolor visions.   



"The world is essentially a folktale or fairy tale illustrated in such a contemporary aesthetic," Zimmerman said. "That was for me a turning point for me. I went back to school, read everything I could about the artist, and from there developed an interest in the stories, the objects, the art world, and how it all fit together." 


Now Zimmerman is surrounded by the work of artists who, like Darger, create work in a mythical realm so powerful, so immediately visceral, it begins to supersede reality. The upcoming auction, for example, features the work of George Widener, a calendar savant whose detailed drawings expose the theoretical grace of mathematical patterns.


Specifically, Widener, who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome as an adult, is obsessed with dates, which he believes are part of a vast interconnected network, linking past to present to future. Using what he calls Magic Time Squares, Widener creates a sort of engine to analyze historical events and, in a way, time travel. Widener is also particularly consumed by the sinking of the Titanic, a fascination sparked after the realization that another George Widener died with the ship. 



And then there is the work of Bill Traylor, a former slave who, near the end of his life, from a wooden box on his Alabama porch, sketched on cardboard, creating hundreds of crisp, modernist silhouettes depicting animals, people, memories, and the world splayed out before him. His sharp lines and geometry-infused shapes resulted in an uncanny ability to capture the energy of African American life. 


Cardboard is far from the oddest material Zimmerman encounters on a daily basis. Since many outsider artists double as resourceful scavengers, making art from whatever materials are available to them, media range far beyond gouache and oils.


Artists like Thornton Dial worked with found materials, from wire hangers to cow skulls. As Zimmerman put it: "His work is not just a reflection of his place, but was in fact created from the world he lived in." Idaho artist James Castle went with soot and spit, and Martin Ramirez, whose repetitive lines form hypnotic vortexes on the page, is rumored to have used mashed potatoes and saliva. "It's this idea of cobbling together what you need to create your artwork," Zimmerman said.



A major aspect of Zimmerman's job -- pricing the work -- is made all the more difficult given the lack of consistency within the outsider art field. There is no one style, era, location or medium that threads the work together. And since much of the work is found in attics, garbage dumps, thrift stores or abandoned homes, much information regarding the artist and her intentions often goes unknown. 


For Zimmerman, the main factors dictating a work's price are previous auction records, if they are available. Secondly, Zimmerman explains, she must take into consideration whether museums or galleries have shown the work. If so, what were the retail prices there? But at the end of the day, she specifies, the buyer sets the price.



 


Christie's upcoming auction "Liberation Through Expression" is led by Tennessee-based artist William Edmonson's "Boxer," which was presumed lost until 2014. Edmonson, a child of freed slaves, worked as a railroad laborer and a hospital janitor before he turned to stonecutting to make tombstones. This limestone sculpture, long thought to be his favorite work, depicts boxer Joe Louis, one of the earliest African American boxers to become a national icon. 


Both Edmonson and Louis represent major triumphs for the black community in the early 20th century. In 1937, Edmonson became the first African American to have a one-person show at the Museum of Modern Art, while Louis held the world heavyweight championship from 1937 to 1949. The statue -- strong, spry and ready to attack, speaks to the resilient spirit of black America. 


Christie's recent foray into outsider art raises a handful of questions, namely, what does it mean that a genre of art whose identity relies on its "outsiderness" has finally made its way into the mainstream spotlight? Is there a reason to be wary of the fact that the outsider art aesthetic and the riveting stories accompanying it are finally gaining traction at a startlingly quick pace?


 



For Zimmerman, the more eyes on the historically under-appreciated and undervalued pocket of the art world, the better. "I hope it grows and people who are unfamiliar with it now will know it by heart in 10 to 20 years," she said. "I hope the work thrives. I want it to take on a life of its own and be in every major museum. I want this to be a part of the art world that people just can’t ignore."


"Liberation Through Expression: Outsider and Vernacular Art" will take place on January 22, 2016 at Christie's Auction House in New York. Be sure to check out the Outsider Art Fair, from Jan. 21-24, 2016, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.



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What I Learned From Taking Off My Clothes In Public

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“They’re just bodies!” my friend shouted before cannonballing into a sudsy backyard pool. It was summer in Texas, and every guy I knew was skinny dipping while the teenage women in my circle stayed seated in an adjacent hot tub, bikini straps knotted tightly around our necks.


It’s a scene from my past I remember well, a missed opportunity to do something that’s come to symbolize spontaneity. When the memory bubbles up, I think about the dissonance between how I talked about myself at the time (“open”), and how I acted (“closed-off”).


I’ve tried to reconcile the two by thinking of nudity as a put-on sort of openness, a particularly unfree way of wearing one’s free spirit as a badge. Because clothes are the norm, not wearing them is certainly more of a firm declaration than wearing them. Therefore, my teenage self rationalized, nudists and others willing to get naked on a whim aren’t free -- they’re posing as free.


The truth, I’ve learned, is simpler: the thought of semi-public nudity taps into a few deep-rooted fears that most of us share. Embarrassment is the obvious phobia that’s associated with being naked -- when you disrobe in public, you’re shirking off the most basic rules of social etiquette. Beyond the basic desire to keep one’s reputation as a functioning citizen in tact, however, is the desire to assert one’s individuality, which clothes can colorfully adorn.




Inviting others to judge me, or at least perceive me, without my carefully-selected armor seemed not only the stuff of nightmares, but also a waste of the long hours I’d spent deliberating over necklace length, belt color and pant tightness.


Inviting others to judge me, or at least perceive me, without my carefully-selected armor seemed not only the stuff of nightmares, but also a waste of the long hours I’d spent deliberating over necklace length, belt color and pant tightness. The girls I grew up with -- many of whom went on to work in nontraditional creative professions, set-hopping as costume designers or whipping up whimsical graphics for popular brands, and can therefore be classified as alternative rather than traditional -- clearly felt the same.


We were taught to express our personalities -- those traits that separated us from each other, and from the easy-to-assume public decision that we were mere sex objects -- through our clothes. Bright lipstick meant a cheery mood; clunky shoes meant a lazy afternoon was in store; breezy blouses in February meant we looked forward to spring. To strip all this off seemed counter to all the work we’d done to assert our individuality. Judged as we were by our appearances, our appearances mattered in ways both deep and superficial.


Which is why, 10 years later, when I heard about a chance to sit as a nude model for a crew of great artists and illustrators, my initial response was, “I’ll have to think about it.”




Like most designers who got started in art school, Mike Perry’s career began with drawing naked people. That’s not an entirely accurate way of putting it, of course -- he took figure drawing classes, sketching the poses and gestures of sitting models, many of whom posed nude. It’s a practice that introduces artists to the way humans move, and the way our most primal gestures form lines and shapes that are familiar and evocative, even when abstracted.


As an artist who works in a multitude of mediums, including sculpture and screen printing, Perry doesn’t find himself sketching human figures as often as he did as a student. Instead, you’ll find his colorful text-based illustrations on sneakers, in magazines, and in the introduction to “Broad City.”


But last week, he invited a handful of those interested in his work to sit while he sketched their poses alongside a handful of other working artists. Although he didn’t mandate that the models were amateurs, most were standing nude for the first time, resulting in unconventional bodily contortions and motionless poses. It’s a project that’s been going on for four years, each session bringing a new crop of emboldened fans and fellow artists.


“It started from a bit of a conversation in the studio about how much we missed doing figure drawings,” Perry told me over the phone. “It’s just one of those things you do so regularly when you’re in art school, and then you find yourself years later, when you’re running your business, having a practice, trying to make drawings, and you realize that was something you enjoyed so much.”


As the project has expanded and evolved, Perry says it’s become more about the models’ experiences than the artists’, who approach figure drawing almost clinically. “It’s an academic exercise for the artists, but the act of posing becomes it’s own story,” Perry said.


For this reason, Perry and a few of the artists who participated in this year’s Get Nude Get Drawn event agree that amateurs can be more interesting to sketch than professional models.




For those whose language is comprised of curves and lines, a hand on a hip or an unwashed bob communicates vibrancy and personality as well as a quirky fall sweater.


“There is a certain spontaneity that they bring which definitely makes the experience more unpredictable," conceptual illustrator Josh Cochran added. "Professional models are great, but they all sort of bring an expected level of energy and poses which I've done a million times in school.”


Illustrator Julia Rothman agreed. “Most of the first-timers who came seemed a bit unsure of how to pose,” she said. “Their poses were often static -- standing like they were in line waiting, or sitting like they were at a coffee shop. It created a good challenge for me because I had to think about the composition more and how to bring interest to the space on the page.”


She noted that while most of the models who participated were women, probably the most brazen model was a man, who felt comfortable bending over, and laying on his back with his legs in the air. "His personality really came through and the drawings are funny," Rothman said.


Unsurprisingly, Rothman’s almost analytical approach to drawing naked models resonated with each artist I spoke with. Jon Burgerman, whose playful, amoeba-like drawings and murals are a hit on Instagram, echoed her thoughts in an email.


“It’s really quite a beautiful thing to put down some marks on a paper and try and describe a naked person. It feels very open and pure,” he said, confirming that for those whose language is comprised of curves and lines, a hand on a hip or an unwashed bob communicates vibrancy and personality as well as a quirky fall sweater, or any other carefully selected article of clothing.




“I’ll have to think about it,” I told my co-worker when she sent around a link to Perry’s upcoming sketch-fest. I figured the experience would be a cool thing to write about, but was also urged on by a nagging thought that this could be my chance to undo the meek choice I made as a teenager who didn’t practice what she preached.


Because sitting as a nude model is within the realm of socially acceptable nakedness -- at least more than, say, showing up to work unknowingly pants-less -- I wasn’t really scared of being ridiculed. I was, however, worried about how I’d be perceived without the neutral-hued sweaters and clunky black boots I’ve chosen to wear most days, maybe meant to represent a peaceful yet alternative disposition.


When I get dressed each day, I’m vaguely aware of both the desire to express myself, and the desire to not impose my personality too assertively on others. I’m aware, too, that my tight-laced shoes and A-line dresses call for a certain way of standing and sitting -- they call for inaction, for polite behavior. All of these wardrobe choices are like loose guidelines for how I’ll stand, sit and even talk that day. Without the structure they provide, how would I stand, sit and talk? The thought of such openness scared and excited me, so I agreed to participate.




All of these wardrobe choices are like loose guidelines for how I’ll stand, sit and even talk that day. Without the structure they provide, how would I stand, sit and talk?


The day of the drawing, I woke up and showered, but paused before applying the makeup I usually wear. Would eyeliner and tinted lotion interfere with the spirit of the project? And, by that logic, should I not style my hair? Should I let it flow freely in never-washed, never-cut tresses? This line of thinking quickly spiraled into a creed in favor of a return to my primal roots, and I decided makeup was OK because it’d help me feel more comfortable, and pose more naturally.


It turned out to be the right choice, because when I showed up at Perry’s studio and sipped a beer with the artists before taking my clothes off in a room filled with light and fun and beach balls, I didn’t feel the need to sit still or cross-legged. I didn’t think about sucking in my stomach or angling my arm in a way that’d project minimal flab.


I stood for a five-minute pose with my back to the illustrators before turning around to act like I was climbing a nearby ladder. I didn’t give the pose much thought; it’s just what occurred to me in the moment. I didn’t feel closed-off or particularly open. I didn’t feel exposed or naked, but I didn’t worry about what I was expressing, either. I positioned my foot on the first step. I reached my arm up toward the highest rung. 


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14 Movies That Could Stir Up Buzz At The 2016 Sundance Film Festival

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Movie buffs and skiing aficionados alike will descend upon Park City, Utah, on Thursday for the start of the Sundance Film Festival. In search of the gems that carry critical torches all the way though next year's Oscar race, á la "Brooklyn" and "Boyhood," festival-goers will spend 11 days in the company of independent movies, A-list stars and snow-drenched mountains.


It's not a bad way to usher in the 2016 movie calendar, and while you're still catching up on the newly crowned Oscar nominees, The Huffington Post will provide coverage of many of the premieres that we'll be discussing this time next year. This is, after all, the festival that gave us "Reservoir Dogs," "The Usual Suspects," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "(500) Days of Summer."


In the meantime, we've compiled a list of 14 narrative films that are high on our radar. Later this week, we'll spotlight the many documentaries that will spark buzz at the festival, along with live coverage from Park City. For now, we're looking forward to movies about cute dogs, slave rebellions and Daniel Radcliffe portraying a corpse.



The Sundance Film Festival is Jan. 21-31. See the full lineup here.

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