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This Web Series Spotlights How Gentrification Impacts Latinx Communities

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A new web series is shining a light on how gentrification impacts Latinxs living in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles. 


"Gente-fied' is a dramatic comedy web series that follows seven characters as they fight to stay rooted in their quickly gentrifying neighborhood. 


The series describes itself as “an explosion of fusion tacos, LGBTQ raza, micheladas, defiant murals, generational clashes and more,” and features little to no mention of guns, cartels or drugs. Okay, so there’s a little marijuana, but it’s mostly a story about Latinx people struggling to hold onto their roots in a rapidly changing community.


"Gente-fied" is reminiscent of "East WillyB," a short-lived web series that focused on how gentrification impacted Latinos in Brooklyn. Like it’s East Coast counterpart, “Gente-fied” features and is largely produced by Latinx talent, including executive producer America Ferrera and director Marvin Lemus, who co-wrote the series with Linda Yvette Chavez.


Check out the trailer above. 

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Meet The Whiskey-Fueled Stormtroopers (From A Distillery Far, Far Away)

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These whiskey-swilling Stormtroopers are taking Instagram by, errr, storm.


They crack open bottles, defend their alcohol from evil forces and even dance like Michael Jackson in a series of wonderful images that their own Dark Lord, the Scotch Trooper, posted online.


The 37-year-old web developer from Atlanta, Georgia, began adding “Star Wars” characters to his whiskey pictures around two years ago.


And his impressive work is now going viral:





These are the Whiskies we were looking for. One for you, and one for me. #Glenfiddich #StarWars #starwarsblackseries

A photo posted by Scotch Trooper (@scotch_trooper) on




Scotch Trooper, whose real name is Brett, refused to reveal his full identity to The Huffington Post -- perhaps in keeping with the anonymity of his images' stars.


But he did say the project came about organically, through combining two of the things he loves -- "Star Wars" and whiskey.








Speaking to Mashable, he said he'd been collecting the figures since he was just 4-years-old and went to see "Return of the Jedi."





It's an older style design... Kinda like us. #HighlandPark #HighlandParkWhisky #HP12 #starwarsblackseries #StarWars

A photo posted by Scotch Trooper (@scotch_trooper) on





So yeah, good question. Now what? #StarWars #StarWarsBlackseries #Lagavulin #Lagavulin200 #LoveScotch

A photo posted by Scotch Trooper (@scotch_trooper) on





Look sir, a black bottle. We must tell Lord Vader. #StarWars #StarWarsToys #starwarsblackseries #BlackBottle

A photo posted by Scotch Trooper (@scotch_trooper) on







Enjoying a dram is always best with friends. #MonkeyShoulder #StarWars

A photo posted by Scotch Trooper (@scotch_trooper) on





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Artist Reimagines Donald Trump As A Liberal, Tattooed Hipster

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Imagine if Donald Trump was actually a hipster.


It calls for some serious suspension of disbelief, given the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's decidedly non-hippie views.


But Israeli artist Amit Shimoni has done just that to produce this exquisite illustration portraying the real estate magnate as a free spirited bohemian -- tattoos and all:




The Donald is wearing a flamingo-covered Hawaiian shirt, what looks like a gold-colored Casio watch and a neck chain in the portrait. 


He also has a nose piercing, tattoos on both of his arms and his chest, and the sides of his head are shaved. It's a far cry from the businessman's usual besuited image.


Shimoni has previous form in depicting the world's leaders as hipsters.


His "HIPSTORY" series sees Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II, Che Guevera and a host of other influential historical and present-day figures given the free-thinking treatment.


Martin Luther King wearing a baseball cap, anyone?



Never give up your dreams. Thanks Martin!

A photo posted by Amit Shimoni Illustration (@amitshimoni) on




Trump doesn't fall into that prestigious category though, said Shimoni. 


"But I just couldn't help myself, anyway we see his face everyday on the news, so I thought, at least I will make some fun with it," he wrote on Instagram.


The Huffington Post has reached out for comment.


While Shimoni's portrait isn't strictly an anti-Trump piece, multiple street artists have protested his presidential campaign in recent months.


 


Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liarrampant xenophoberacistmisogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

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Here's Another Street Art Mural That Donald Trump Is Really Going To Hate

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Donald Trump has added another political notch in his bedpost. Kind of.


Fresh from making out with Russian President Vladimir Putin in this controversial street art mural in Lithuania, he's now being depicted smooching with former London Mayor Boris Johnson.


The "Kiss of Death" shows The Donald and Johnson, who both support Britain leaving the European Union, passionately locking lips.


The Paintsmiths -- Felix "FLX" Braun and Jack "Dones" -- painted the image onto a wall in Bristol, southwest England, on Monday. Photographs of the piece are now going viral.





The 15-foot-high artwork was commissioned by campaign group We Are Europe, which wants Britain to remain as part of the EU.


"People need to look at this image and think -- is this the future I want?" We Are Europe spokeswoman Harriet Kingaby said in a statement.


If more Britons don't register to vote in the upcoming referendum on June 23, she said, "It's likely the UK will leave the EU and this is the kind of 'special relationship' that might become a reality."


As with Mindaugas Bonanu's piece in Lithuania, The Paintsmiths' mural was inspired by Dmitri Vrubel's "My God, Help Me To Survive This Deadly Love" -- painted on the side of the Berlin Wall in 1990 and a riff on the "Socialist Fraternal Kiss" photograph, which showed former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kissing East German leader Erich Honecker.



Reaction to the latest mural, which is down the street from Banksy's "The Mild Mild West" in the Stokes Croft neighborhood, has been overwhelmingly positive, said Braun.


"People were beeping their horns, stopping their cars to take pictures out of the window, shouting their approval, coming up and shaking our hands," he added. "I'm voting in and it was great to chat to so many people today who will be registering to do the same. It was a pleasure to be involved."



Bristol, where anonymous guerrilla street artist Banksy is believed to hail from, is also home to another Trump mural.


Pegasus, who is from Chicago but now lives in London, likened the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to Adolf Hitler in his piece on the wall of the Hen & Chicken pub on the other side of the city in February.


He said he faced death threats from Trump supporters after announcing he would be exhibiting a tweaked version of the piece at a show in Los Angeles in October. After the initial furor, he told The Huffington Post the attacks had died down.






See more anti-Donald Trump street art here.


Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liarrampant xenophoberacistmisogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Feminism Is A Thing With Ravenclaws In These Feminist 'Harry Potter' Drawings

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Attracted to the detailed, whimsical illustrations conjured up by Edith Hamilton, artist Louise Reimer started reading mythology a few years ago. Her interest in the early, heroic tales resulted in the making of a zine, Mythologie, which features scenes such as Atalanta hunting a boar while wearing Converse.


In addition to the ancient gods, Reimer's rich, fun scenes center on female empowerment and subversive contemporary motifs. So it only makes sense that her latest drawings focus on a magical world where powerful teens run amuck. She whipped up four quirky images of girls in Hogwarts house getups, along with slogans such as, “What snake did your sense of entitlement Slytherin on?”


“I quickly realized most of the [mythology] stories involved sexual violence cloaked in romance or poetic images, like Daphne turning into a laurel tree to escape Apollo's advances,” Reimer told HuffPost in an email. “I enjoy the imagery of mythology, but I think 'Harry Potter' is a much safer place for women than the realms of the ancient gods.”


Like her mythological rewrites, her "Harry Potter" sketches have a flat, geometric, colorful aesthetic, one that borrows from the tenants of folk art. Patterns and color schemes take precedence over, say, expressive lines; Reimer’s drawn to quilts and other textiles as sources of inspiration.


“Part of my attraction stems from the fact that often 'folk art' was the only kind of art that women were allowed to create,” she said, adding that she finds conceptual art at times dry and unapproachable. “It’s a fun game to play if you have the vocabulary, if you get the references, but it can also be ostentatious to make something hyper cerebral. Life can be a slog, so you may as well make something fun or that gives you or another person joy.”


Her drawings are also marked by their tough subjects: women with furrowed brows, women donning biker jackets, women flexing their guns. “I imagine the figures in my personal works as existing in an alternate universe where male gaze doesn't exist. They are comfortable in their bodies and value female kinship,” Reimer said. “They are free to express their femininity without judgement, be it as soft and romantic or butch as they desire.”


See more of Louise Reimer's work on her site, or on SparkLife, where they were originally published




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Artist Films Herself Having Sex With A Stranger In 'Unsimulated' Commentary On Rape

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Warning: This post contains sensitive subject matter, please read with caution.



Australia-based artist Sophia Hewson's latest work is described as a self-orchestrated "rape representation."


Filmed in New York, the three-minute video piece shows Hewson and a "stranger" participating in unsimulated sex in her home in the city. While the camera focuses mostly on the artist's face, the man's arms occasionally flit into view, his hands holding Hewson's shoulders or pushing her face in gestures one might associate with sexual assault. There is no nudity.


"The raped woman is nearly always represented with her face downcast and her eyes averted," Hewson explains in a statement attached to the work. "The most confronting aspect of 'Untitled (are you ok bob?),' isn't watching as a woman is struck or penetrated, it's seeing her look back out at us from the experience. Caught in her gaze, the viewer is not only forced to bear witness to her subjectivity, but implicated in her desolation."


The video's name, "Untitled (are you ok bob?)," refers to the first words the artist spoke after the "act." The comment was unscripted, citing the pseudonym of the stranger in the video, Bob. "My intention with this title was to reference the orchestrated nature of the event -- who is using whom in this situation? -- and also to highlight the way in which women are still encouraged to put others’ emotional wellbeing before their own," Hewson adds. 


Although the artist declined to speak on the record, Mars Gallery in Melbourne provided The Huffington Post with a statement and stills from the video, which is currently only available to watch at an exhibition there, on view until June 2.



In the statement, Hewson cites artist Audrey Wollen's "Sad girl theory," which posits women’s pain and suffering can be used "as tools for resistance and political agency," and the words of eco-feminist author Susan Griffin, underscoring her attempt to not only explore through representation "the idea that rape is more than an unwanted sexual act," but also to acknowledge other women, like Sylvia Plath and Lana Del Rey, who have "consciously disrupted the status quo through enacting their own sorrow."



"Central to this work is also the idea that rape is more than an unwanted sexual act, that it is the foundation for the entire institution of the patriarchy, and hence it is the crucial battleground for dismantling male power," Hewson further explains in the statement. "If rape is the ultimate weapon of male-domination, then anything outside of being permanently impacted by the experience, undermines male weaponry. To choose to put yourself in this situation, to show (even symbolically) a woman enduring the scene in 'Untitled (are you ok bob?),' is conceptually challenging because it threatens our assumption that man's power is insurmountable. And in the ideology of patriarchy that is the deepest offense possible."



Hewson's video -- which the artist described to The Sydney Morning Herald as "militant feminism" -- has been met with subdued coverage as well as outright criticism


"We live in an age that has an insatiable appetite for the salacious, the scandalous, or simply the unbearably sad," Kath Kenny wrote for The SMH in response to Hewson's work. "In this era of baring all, to gain attention one must disclose tales that are either titillating, traumatizing or some messed up mix of both. We've created an attention economy that tells people, particularly young and female people, that the most interesting and valuable thing about you is the worst thing that has ever happened to you."


In her lengthy statement, Hewson anticipated the potential for "horrified" reactions to the subject of rape, adding that the particular response "isn't just about our desire to eradicate the epidemic, if it was it would go hand in hand with legal reforms, political prioritization, and a genuine support for victims. It's essential to the patriarchy that rape is taboo, because demystifying the act challenges shame and erodes the fear that is needed to suppress the majority."



Hewson also provided critics with a few other caveats to her video, included in full below: 




  1. Didn't include the experience of the raped man because [I'm] using the image of the raped woman to examine female subjugation.



  2. Not referring to all women when discussing the "self-sacrificing female." Referring to social pressure on mothers and often on women in relationships/men can also inherit "self-sacrificing" inter-generational emotional inheritance (though it is less common and not simultaneously compounded by social pressure).



  3. I've never had rape fantasy, and I didn't enjoy making the work physically.



Media outlets have drawn parallels between Hewson's video and former Columbia student and artist Emma Sulkowicz's project "Carry That Weight," also known as the "Mattress Performance," in which she carried a 50-pound mattress with her as a form of protest against sexual assault on campus. Another artist, Clayton Pettet, announced that he would be staging unsimulated sex in a gallery in 2013, as a way of challenging the heteronormative stigma around virginity (though the final project did not involve anal penetration, as followers of Pettet's work might have assumed).


Hewson, 31, has been working in art for nearly a decade, during which she's traveled to a polygamous Mormon community, interviewed street preachers, and met with porn stars for various projects. She spent time in New York City as the result of a six-month residency at Residency Unlimited. You can see more of her work here.


Due to the sensitive nature of this work, Sophia Hewson's video is only available to view at Mars Gallery and will not be made available online. You can read the artist's statement in full here.


Need help? In the U.S., visit the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline operated by RAINN. For more resources, visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's website.

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Typography Can Save Your Life

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The National Weather Service publishes its forecasts in all caps no matter what the weather. It might be MOSTLY SUNNY, WITH A HIGH NEAR 75, or it could be HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS, WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS, but in either case it'll be shouted in an all-caps warning, like a house is on fire. But earlier this month, the weather service took a typographic sedative and officially started using mixed caps in its weather forecasts.


That sort of news would often be relegated to a press release, or more likely a joke on a late-night TV show, but ProPublica journalist Lena Groeger used the peg to dive down the rabbit hole of typography. The Huffington Post talked to Groeger about how she transformed this small news item into a fascinating essay about type choices and how they can have life-or-death consequences. 


The premise of this story, or rather the news peg, is based off a press release: The National Weather Service is giving up ALL CAPS. What inspired you to dive deep into typography?


I've always loved typography. It's what got me into graphic design in the first place. When I saw the National Weather Service announcement, a couple of other examples in typography adjustments came to mind. The first was how the font on highway signage has been changed to Clearview from Highway Gothic to make it easier for drivers to read. I also thought of Edward Tufte's book Visual Explanations. He talks about how using too many signals, like all caps, bold, italics, all at once can make something important harder to read. The surgeon general's warning that appears on a cigarette billboard in ALL CAPS, underlined and surrounded by a black border, is a great example of that. 


You have so many great examples of terrible typography. How did you find them?


I didn't have to do too much research as there was a lot out there. I came across an MIT study on vehicle displays pretty quickly. Then as I was writing about ALL CAPS I wondered why terms and conditions are always that way. I had no idea it was because of a law on how the lettering needs to be conspicuous.


What surprised you in your reporting? 


That NASA had a document on typography! But once you find out that's the case, you think, "Of course NASA is on top of that." I was mostly struck by how many best practices in design are ignored in a lot of fields mostly because of legacy systems. Typewriters are still defining what words look like today.


Let's talk about fonts. Do you have a favorite?


I've always liked Garamond. It’s sophisticated and clear, and it doesn't call too much attention to itself. In its italic version there's this wonderful ampersand that looks like a piece of art. But for general use, my new favorite font is Atlas Grotesk. It's a clean sans serif font like Franklin Gothic. It’s good for little labels in charts and graphics. It's easy to read and gets the message across.


After your piece posted, did anyone write or tweet other examples of typography gone awry?


No, but I got this great email from Glenn Fleishman, who also had written about ALL CAPS this week. He wanted to pass along his essay on the history of using all caps to signify shouting. He even found an instance from the 19th century.


Want to read more about how a SHOUTY typeface is not only annoying, but also dangerous? Read Groeger's piece.  


 


Go Behind The Scenes With Other Reporters: 


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There's A Spooky House Hiding On Top Of The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

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The house is 30-feet tall and looks as though it's been plucked from a horror film set only to be precariously plopped, "Operation Dumbo Drop" style, on top of one of New York's most prestigious institutions. Yet, despite its size and unmistakable fright factor, to those museum patrons unaware of its existence, the recently christened "PsychoBarn" is hiding on top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


The large-scale sculpture, fully titled "Transitional Object (PsychoBarn)," is the work of British artist Cornelia Parker. Inspired in equal parts by the early 20th-century paintings of Edward Hopper and the sufficiently sinister mansion from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film "Psycho," the quaint, if not a little unnerving, barn stands as the fourth installation of site-specific work to grace the Met's rooftop.



The house is "fabricated," according to the Met's website, from a deconstructed red barn, and though it appears to be an authentic home, it is actually a scaled-down model built of two facades held together with scaffolding, much like a film set. To find her materials, Parker worked with a restoration company tasked with taking down old barns across the United States. As a result, "PsychoBarn" is comprised of bits and pieces of a very real red barn slated for demolition in Schoharie, a town in upstate New York. 


Parker, in a video explaining the rooftop commission, says the idea of putting a work on top of the Met was daunting "because the skyline is so amazing." She ultimately decided she wanted to put something architectural atop the art haven, something that would end up encapsulating the unique secrecy of a rooftop locale as well as the familiar feeling of happening upon a haunted house.



Hopper's 1925 "House by the Railroad," conveniently on view at the Met's Midtown cousin, the Museum of Modern Art, served as a specific muse to Parker, as it did to Hitchcock. His Bates family home shares considerable characteristics in common with Hopper's painting. 


Perched atop the Met's top floor like the metropolis version of Baba Yaga's forest hut, Parker's house gives perfectly positioned Central Park sitters a different kind of skyline to look upon, as well as a piece of pop culture history to ogle. The final rooftop creation is both wholesome (red barns, right?) and petrifying (because, "Psycho"). In fact, the name "Transitional Object," Parker noted to the New York Times, "is a psychological term for something like a teddy bear, something to wean you off your mother," which seems fitting for an homage to Norman Bates. 



"I like the idea that you take things that perhaps sound cliched. But they are cliched for a reason," Parker describes in the video below. "They resonate with a huge amount of people and that's why they are the most visited spots. And I somehow think the inverse of the cliche is the most unknown place."


"It’s not a fine-art audience," Parker reiterated to The NYT, explaining the fact that many Met goers make their way to the roof not for the art, but for a chance to see the city from a different perspective. "People are coming for the view. I wanted to add another ingredient to the view."



The house made its debut last month, but as New York City gears up for what has seemed like an infinitely delayed season of summer weather, the Met is likely planning for more crowds ready to peer over a sunnier Central Park.


Fear not, interested parties have until October 31 to set their eyes on "PsychoBarn."




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President Obama And Anthony Bourdain Just Ate The Cheapest Noodle Meal

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Not even the president says no to cheap noodles.


Barack Obama had dinner with chef Anthony Bourdain on Tuesday at a "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam, the BBC reports. The dinner was filmed for an upcoming episode of Bourdain's CNN show "Parts Unknown," which returns for its eighth season this fall. 


The menu included bún chả, a traditional spread of pork, broth, rice noodles and greens. 


"Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer," Bourdain tweeted. "The president's chopstick skills are on point," he added on Instagram.


The total bill, according to Bourdain, was just $6. "I picked up the check," he announced. 







The President's chopstick skills are on point . #buncha #hanoi

A photo posted by anthonybourdain (@anthonybourdain) on




The noodle dinner comes during Obama's three-day trip to Vietnam.


Here's hoping for excellent street food, cave explorations and views that put U.S. cityscapes to shame

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

This Parody Of Beyoncé’s 'Hold Up' Is All About Hermione Granger

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A Potterhead and card-carrying Beyhive member just created the perfect "Lemonade" parody -- starring Hermione Granger.


YouTuber Dominique Taylor wrote the Harry Potter parody of Beyoncé's song "Hold Up," appropriately titled "Wand Up!" Taylor sings the song from the perspective of Granger when she was in love with Ron Weasley during the characters' fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts. 


“How did it come down to this? Thought our love was magic. I don’t wanna lose my pride but I’ma crucio a witch," Taylor sings into the camera. 


Instead of Yoncé's original "Hold Up" chorus where she sings: "Hold up, they don't love you like I love you. Oh, down, they don't love you like I love you," Taylor sings: "Wand up! I don’t wanna have to hex you. But Ron, they don’t love you like I love you." 





Taylor told Bustle that she's been a passionate Potterhead since 6th grade. 


"I really love literature and music, and so this is simply where my passions collide," she said. "A lot of my creativity is in trying to bridge the gap between the two worlds and recently, I’ve just been flooded with these literary parodies... and it’s also a great way for me to keep practicing the guitar." 


Way to slay, Dominique.


Watch the full parody below. 





Head over to Taylor's YouTube page The Storyscape to see more of her work. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Over 450 Writers, Including Stephen King And Michael Chabon, Sign Petition Against Trump

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Stephen King and Michael Chabon are among the writers who signed an open letter to the American people, addressing their concerns about Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.


Published today on Literary Hub, the letter reads, “we, the undersigned, as a matter of conscience, oppose, unequivocally, the candidacy of Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States.”


“Because we believe that knowledge, experience, flexibility, and historical awareness are indispensable in a leader,” a portion of the letter reads. “Because the history of dictatorship is the history of manipulation and division, demagoguery and lies.”


In addition to the above mentioned writers, it was signed by Celeste Ng, Lydia Davis, Rick Moody, Rebecca Solnit, Lauren Groff, Jennifer Egan, Anthony Marra, and over 400 others. While the majority of signees are New York-based writers, a number hail from or currently live in traditionally red states, including Louisiana and Mississippi. Five of the signees currently live in Texas.


This is not the first time in recent history that creative writers have banded together against a noxious force. In 2014, over 900 authors signed a petition that ran as a full-page New York Times ad, speaking out against Amazon, which they described as a threat to the book publishing industry.










A number of those who’ve signed the letter have expressed their views of Trump on social media already. Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You, quipped during a precursor to Trump’s foreign policy discussion that the introduction was a “trigger warning." 


Lauren Groff, author of the National Book Award-nominated Fates and Furies joked, “If you're in a relationship with a Trump supporter, now's the time to pull the full Lysistrata on their sorry asses.”


The open letter, however, provides a space for the writers to express their worry in earnest. Read it in full here.


Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liarrampant xenophoberacistmisogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Brooklyn Nightlife Comes Together To Celebrate Accomplishments, Community

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On Saturday, May 21, the movers and shakers of various industries that intersect within the nightlife community in Brooklyn, New York, came together to celebrate one another's accomplishments -- and one another.


Curated by Brooklyn drag queen Merrie Cherry, the Brooklyn Nightlife Awards are a chance for a large-scale queer community to be recognized for individual work as creatives. Now in its fourth incarnation, the range of awards is widespread, from "Best Drag Queen" to "Best Fashion Designer" to "Best Visual Artist."


As HuffPost Queer Voices explored in the series "After Dark," nightlife acts as a major source of cultural production for a multitude of other industries, both within the context of the queer community and the fabric of our society as a whole. The BNAs provides a platform to recognize this.


"Who doesn't like a good excuse to dress up and show out?" Merrie Cherry told The Huffington Post. "That aside, I think it is important to represent the people and places that keep the Brooklyn queer scene alive. This isn't just a Brooklyn thing -- many people on a national and international level are on the pulse of our subculture we have created. The BNAs let them know who is killing the game in our community... I found my family in New York. I found my purpose. I will always love this community."


Check out the list of winners below, as well as a selection of photos courtesy of Cameron Cole.


Drag Queen of the Year: Aja


Best Event Producer: The Culture Whore


Best DJ: Horrorchata


Best Fashion Designer: Bcalla


Hall of Fame: Thorgy Thor


Best Fashionz: Sussi


Drag King of the Year: Goldie Peacock & K. James


Best Visual Artist: Diego Montoya


Best Bartender: John Lowther


Best Writer: JamesMichael Nichols


Best Circus Performer: Madame Vivien V


Best Drag Performance Show: Mondays on Mondays


Best Vocal Artist/Group: Macy Rodman


Best Burlesque/Boylesque Performer: Vic Sin


Best Event Photographer: Cameron Cole


Best Reason To Leave Brooklyn: Frankie's at The Jane


Scene Kid: Kelsey Dagger


Best Party: Be Cute


Best Bar/Club: Metropolitan Bar


Best Event Publisher: Next Magazine


Best Late Night Food Spot: Bagelsmith


Best Burlesque/Boylesuqe Show: Straight Acting


Best Social Media: Hamm Samwich


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Italian Filmmaker Captures A Different, Darker Side Of Rome

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Rome is best known for its ancient ruins, its impeccably designed fountains, and the gelato stores dotting its alleys and squares.


In his documentary film "Pezzi," Italian filmmaker and photographer Luca Ferrari documents an unseen side of his hometown. "Pezzi" offers a portrait of Laurentino 38, in Rome’s suburbs, and the violence, drugs, illness and misery that pervades it. In the film, Ferrari zooms in on the lives of a handful of Laurentino 38 inhabitants, including Giuliana, Stefano, Rosi, Bianca, and Lillo.


The film earned him a best documentary film award at the Rome Film Festival in 2012. The photo essay below, which Ferrari produced in parallel to the film, captures Laurentino 38's unglamorous interiors, its dreary skyline, and the anguish in its people’s eyes.



This post originally appeared on HuffPost Italy and has been translated into English.

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'Bachelor' Juan Pablo Galavis Looks Very Different In New Acting Gig

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Juan Pablo Galavis is back in front of the camera, but the former "Bachelor" star isn't looking for love this time around.


The 34-year-old reality star plays an overprotective brother in Más Mejor's latest "Breakup Breakdown" video series, which re-enacts bad breakups in humorous ways. Galavis is donning much longer hair in the "Patty and Brad" episode posted Monday, a look very different from what he was sporting during rose ceremony days. 


Of course anyone who follows Galavis on Instagram will not be surprised at all by his new hair.





Best WISHES to you ALL in 2016... / Mis mejores DESEOS para todos en el 2016...

A photo posted by Juan Pablo Galavis (@juanpagalavis) on




Galavis became the first Latino "Bachelor" in 2013, but ended his run with an awkward final rose ceremony in which he chose contestant Nikki Ferrell but didn't propose and refused to tell her "I love you." The two have since split and Ferrell announced her engagement to boyfriend Tyler VanLoo in January.


So, what are the chances he'll re-enact the "Juan Pablo and Nikki" breakup next? We're thinking slim. 

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This Artist Plans To Temporarily Tattoo Sick Kids With Gorgeous Designs

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Benjamin Lloyd is putting his tattoos where his heart is.


The artist plans to ink patients at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, with gorgeous temporary tattoos -- for free.


How this came about is perhaps the best part of social media. Lloyd, of Tauranga, New Zealand, took to Facebook on Sunday to declare, "Nothing brings me more joy than boosting a kids confidence with a custom tattoo." He pledged to provide the service gratis for the hospital, as long as he got 50 likes on Facebook.





Needless to say, the response was far beyond what he had hoped. The post has been liked and shared hundreds of thousands of times.


Lloyd told Seven Sharp that he began "tattooing" children a few years ago after the death of his stepson. He choked back tears during the exchange and didn't elaborate. But as he began working on the kids, he said, "It just made me realize how much it makes children happy."





Seven Sharp says the hospital is reaching out to Lloyd to perhaps work out an arrangement.


Lloyd assures that the ink he uses is safe and washes off in the shower.


"The only bad thing is that they don't want to take a shower afterwards," he said, per Bored Panda.


Here's video Lloyd posted of the process:





 H/T Elite Daily

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There Is One More 'Holy S**t' Moment Coming On 'Game Of Thrones'

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The latest episode of "Game of Thrones" left fans shell-shocked, but gear up, because there is one more unexpected moment coming. 


Two years ago, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss met with George R. R. Martin to discuss how the show should play out since he has yet to finish the final two books in his series, according to Entertainment Weekly. During the conversation, Martin spoke of “three holy s**t moments," some of which have already been revealed.


The first was when Stannis Baratheon sacrificed his daughter, Shireen, last season.



The second was the heart-wrenching revelation of Hodor's true story and purpose in Sunday night's episode, "The Door."



The third and final shocker "is from the very end,” Benioff said, totally leaving us hanging. But that doesn't mean all will be ruined for book readers, as the HBO series will likely end before Martin's final novel is published. 


"People are going to be very surprised when they read the books after the show," Benioff told EW. "They’re quite divergent in so many respects for the remainder of the show.”


Uproxx notes that it seems a bit too obvious that the third surprise will be the confirmation of R + L = J, since that has been a popular theory for some time now. 


Someone should go ask Myrddin his thoughts. Or pray to the Lord of Light Martin starts typing faster. 






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'The Bachelorette' Season 12 Premiere Recap: JoJo Fletcher Meets 26 Bland Men

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After two months of free Monday nights, "The Bachelorette" is here. Cool girl JoJo Fletcher is post-Ben, single and ready to mingle ... with 26 software salesmen, Z-list musicians and an erectile dysfunction expert.


In this week's "Here To Make Friends" podcast, hosts Claire Fallon and Emma Gray recap the premiere of "The Bachelorette" Season 12. We'll discuss Chad's embodiment of toxic masculinity, why "Damn Daniel" should disappear forever and the perfection that is Ali, along with our very own Emily Warman.





We'll also talk to former "Bachelorette" Andi Dorfman all about her (very juicy) book, It's Not Okay, and the demise of her relationship with Josh Murray.


Check out the full premiere recap 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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Sikh Filmmaker Takes On Times Square To Teach People About His Religion

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Sikhs have had to deal with racism and discrimination ever since members of the faith arrived in America more than 125 years ago. But prejudice against this religious group has taken an ugly turn in recent years, as Sikhs are swept into the rising tide of Islamophobia


Some of this hate stems from ignorance. Statistics show that many in the country know little or nothing about Sikh Americans. 


Maneetpaul Singh, a 22-year-old Sikh filmmaker from Connecticut, is hoping to help change that. He recently took to the streets of New York City with YouTuber Jagraj Singh to see just how much people knew about Sikhism and to help them learn more about its origins, principles, and people.


Some of the people Jagraj spoke to in New York's Times Square had never heard of the religion before. Maneetpaul told The Huffington Post that it is these folks that he's hoping to reach. 


"This film is truly intended for those who have never heard of a Sikh before," Maneetpaul told The Huffington Post. "It is to show people we are an independent religion, separate from Islam or Hinduism. However, at the same time, the goal is not to shift blame to Muslims or any other religious group. The film aims to showcase that it is simply not right to judge someone based on their appearance."


In the video, Jagraj takes a few people aside and leads them through a crash course on the religion.



The resulting short documentary, "They Called Me Osama," covers everything from Sikhism's founding in Punjab, India in 1469 to its core belief in the equality of all people, to what it's like to be Sikh in America today. 


Although Maneetpaul said he was fortunate enough to go through school without having any major problems with bullying or racism, he still feels he can't leave the house "without receiving some sort of 'look', double-take, or flat out inappropriate comment."


"I feel that having a Sikh identity comes with a certain degree of responsibility," Maneetpaul wrote. "It is our job to make that first impression, and put ourselves out there. The only way misperceptions towards Sikhs will change, is if we engage with our communities and show the world what our real beliefs are."


Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world. It is a monotheistic faith. Unshorn hair is one of the five elements of the Sikh faith. It is an outward sign of their faith and a way for Sikhs to allow their body to grow in the way that nature intended it. Some Sikhs wrap their hair in a turban, or dastaar, which is a reminder of the equality and royalty of all people.


Some Sikhs who wear turbans have become targets of discrimination, hate crimes, and bullying, often by people who mistakenly associate the turbans with Islam. 


Maneetpaul interviewed several Sikh Americans who have been victims of discrimination in the past. Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a New York physician and academic, recounted how he was physically assaulted by a group of people who shouted Islamophobic statements at him. Japjee Singh, a student from Georgia, spoke about how he was bullied throughout his school years. Balpreet Kaur, a Sikh woman who has chosen not to trim her facial hair in accordance with her religion’s beliefs, spoke about how a Redditor posted a photo of her online, mocking her for her appearance -- and about how the cyberbully eventually apologized for his post.


In the documentary, Kaur said that she hopes the incident helped teach people that it's okay to step out of your comfort zone to get to know people who are different.


"The whole incident hopefully taught not only me but others how to embrace diversity and offers a glimpse of the sheer amount of diversity we have in our world," Kaur said.


Watch Maneetpaul Singh's documentary above.  

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The Creator Of The Regal Cinemas Rollercoaster Animation Has Died

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John McLaughlin, the man behind the beloved rollercoaster voyage into Regal Cinema's feature presentations, has died at the age of 46.


 

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10 'Bromances' That Illustrate The Power Of Male Friendship

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Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. "Bromances" can be a thing of beauty.


Here at Huff/Post 50 we couldn't help but notice that while female friendships and "girlfriends" are often celebrated, it's the unique bond between long-term male friends that is sometimes forgotten. Male friendships are about so much more than just sharing pastimes. To many men, their friends are like brothers ... always there through thick and thin. 


We've written about platonic male-female friendships, intergenerational friendships and long-time female friendships. Now, with a little help from our editor-at-large Rita Wilson, we asked our incredible community of readers to share their stories of male friendship. Here are just some of the narratives we received, describing decades of loyalty, support and laughter. 



** Some responses have been edited and condensed for clarity. 

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