Quantcast
Channel: Culture & Arts
Viewing all 18485 articles
Browse latest View live

Lin-Manuel Miranda Says It 'Feels Like Senior Year' As He Prepares To Leave 'Hamilton'

0
0


-- 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.


'Game Of Thrones' Composer Breaks Down The Season Finale's Opening Sequence

0
0

One of the first notes composer Ramin Djawadi ever received from "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss concerned the now-beloved theme song. "Make it like a journey," they told him. 


Well, that initial direction sparked a desire to bring the HBO fantasy series to life through music -- a task that proved to be, shall we say, unpredictable.


"I tried to create an overall thematic piece that captures the mood," Djawadi told The Huffington Post of creating the main title in a phone interview. "There's this tiny little piece at the very intro before the melody starts playing -- the piece is in minor, but for a split second it switches to major, and then pulls you back to minor. And I always intended that to be a part of the unpredictability of the show -- not knowing the backstabbing or the conspiracies, the instability about the characters and the story, and never knowing who you can trust. I wanted to implement that immediately with the opening of that piece, where you go, 'Wait, is it in major or is it in minor?' And then it settles."


Djawadi weaved that approach throughout the show's score over the last six seasons, truly bringing it to a head for the Season 6 finale's opening sequence in King's Landing. He composed a song titled "Light of the Seven" that not only took the creators by surprise, but pleasantly shocked viewers with its unconventional use of non-medieval sounds. 


As Cersei's plan to "burn them all" ensues at the start of "The Winds of Winter," the score tells the story, gently beginning with a piano melody before rising and falling and churning and twisting around the instrumentation so beautifully laid out by Djawadi. The haunting piece of music has been praised in the days since the episode aired, with many naming it as a reason why the opening sequence was one of the best scenes in "Game of Thrones" history. Even the episode's director, Miguel Sapochnik, said that the music surprised him, in the best possible way. 


"In the end I submitted my cut to Dan and David with a note explaining that while I understood that this was not 'Game of Thrones,' I really wanted them to hear the sequence with this emotional underpinning to understand the tone I was going for and then do what they will," he told Deadline. "Four months later I receive the final cut and mix to look at and am slightly dreading what they might have changed the music to and instead I hear Ramin’s score and it put a huge grin on my face." 


Below, Djawadi opens up to HuffPost about the positive response he's received since the episode debuted and details what it's like to score one of the most successful and compelling dramas on television. 





The first 20 minutes of the Season 6 finale were fantastic, and it had a lot to do with your score. How did you go about creating "Light of the Seven"? What did you want the music to portray? 


I knew this new piece was coming my way because when we started with the season, David and Dan, and also Miguel Sapochnik, the director, warned me that the Battle of the Bastards and the big trial were ahead and they said, “You know, we got some big stuff coming that we’re very excited about. We need you to look at it and just start thinking. It needs to be different." So, conceptually, we already talked about it way before I even started writing anything. They showed me a rough edit and then we just started talking instrumentation. What was so interesting and amazing about that scene is it’s very long, and there’s hardly any dialogue, and we don’t want to tip it [the explosion surprise] with music at all, but we knew it needed music. So we decided to use organ, because we had used organ with Cersei before with the walk of atonement, and we talked about the kids and using their voices, maybe.


The big concern was the piano because we have never used it in the score [of the entire series]. It’s not part of the language of the score. But what’s amazing about "Game of Thrones" is that it’s set in a fantasy world, it’s a fantasy story. So I always say that with the score, we’re open to do whatever we want. And we are using so many different instruments all the time, but we had never used piano. We were going back and forth because it has such a unique sound.


That’s what was interesting, because the piano, in particular, doesn’t fit in this medieval-esque period. Miguel Sapochnik even said he was worried David and Dan would reject it.


This is what I love about the process with David and Dan and the whole collaboration on the show: the way we experiment and try things. When I wrote the piece, we definitely tried it on the harp and used other elements, but we always came back to the piano and we said, “No, there’s nothing like it. This will be it.”


If you look back through the seasons, "Game of Thrones" is always up for surprises. You never know who’s going to get killed off, and whenever you feel like, “I think I know this is going to happen," it takes you somewhere else. And I’m so excited we were able to do this with music, because over the seasons we’ve had different bands perform music, like "The Rains of Castamere," and people would [ask me], "Who’s going to be the band this season?" And this season we didn’t even have a band, the surprise was, “Whoa, there’s piano? Where’s this coming from?” So I think it just worked out really well, and I’m happy that people embraced it so much.


It was one of those moments where the show began and the music kicked in and, as "Game of Thrones" fans, we all said to ourselves, “Wow, this is different.” Did you know people would react this way and were you reacting this way in the edit room?


Not at all. When I work on my music, I always kind of just try to do my best work. It’s the same as back in Season 1 when the main title came out and people were doing covers and putting them on YouTube. I was so pleasantly surprised and excited about how creative people were with that. I think we all just did what we thought was right for the show and what would be dramatically the correct choice. 


For sure. 


What’s interesting about the scene too, besides the piano, is, thematically, we knew we couldn’t really play an existing theme. In the piece, if you listen closely, I actually hint to the main title theme twice. It’s in the middle when the boys [choir] sing and shortly after that, as well. Because I wanted to make sure we were still enveloped and we got to let people know this is still "Game of Thrones" and not just some piece.


We knew that this had to be, overall, just a new piece of music. We cant use the Lannister theme, because we didn’t want to tip it and have people ask, "Wait, is Cersei up to something?" We just wanted this little minimalistic piece that told the course of this entire nine minutes and slowly builds and pulls back a little bit. What’s interesting about this theme and what was so fun to score is that the different characters find out what’s going on at different times. Like, Lancel gets stabbed but Margaery doesn’t know yet what’s going on. So the piece has to stop again and go into a holding pattern. But overall, there has to be this steady increase in tension and build, and that was so fun to create.



The timing is outstanding. There’s no music when Loras is confessing to his sins or when Tommen jumps out of the window. Your choice or the editor’s choice?


We do it all together. I sit with David and Dan and we do what’s called a spotting session where we watch the entire episode and then discuss when music should start and stop. Everybody’s very involved with that. And it constantly gets played with. What I love about "Game of Thrones" is that the positioning of the music is so well done, because it’s not overdone. When the music cuts in, it really has something to say. The writing and the dialogue is so strong that there’s many scenes where we'll say, "Lets try a piece of music there." Then I write something, show it to the guys, and then we go, “You know what, maybe it’s better without it.” And sometimes it’s the other way around, where we’ll think a scene doesn’t need music and then after a while we think, “You know, we haven’t heard music for a while, it might be good. Maybe toward the end, lets bring something in." It’s a constant process that we go through and it’s really carefully designed.


Are you on set at all? Or do you just see scenes once they're in the edit room? 


Unfortunately, I always only see it when it’s been shot. I don’t come into the process until the very end in post-production, when shooting wraps and they come back to LA and the music writing starts. However, I had the opportunity last fall for the first time to go to the set because I was in Europe and I decided to stop by. I was there for two days and they had three scenes going at the same time, which is kind of rare, so I got to see a lot of the cast and see the whole machine in action, which was incredible.


That must have been cool for you because they, obviously, all know your music and you probably stare at them for how many hours when you’re scoring the episodes?


Yes! I’ve met the cast at events like premieres and things, but also it was great to meet the rest of the crew and all these people I would have never met. It was a very inspiring experience.


Were you an avid reader of the books? I'm sure you ingested a lot of the story in order to delve deep into the music creation.


To be completely honest, I have not read the books. To date, I have not read them. David and Dan reached out and said that they were interested in working with me, so they sent me the first two episodes of the first season and my jaw dropped and I thought, "Wow, this is amazing." We had a meeting and hit it off and I just jumped on it immediately.


David and Dan have been amazing guiding me through the process. I don’t always have all the episodes available to me because, obviously, they might be still cutting them, but they always try to get me multiple episodes to watch so I really can see the story arc. But even if I don’t have the visuals, they will always talk me through it. I always like to use Daenerys as an example; In the first episode, I didn’t really understand what her role would be and I had no idea that she would turn into this powerful character. [When she was marrying Khal Drogo] I asked, "What’s going on here?" and they said, “She’s going to become very powerful, so we have to give her a powerful theme.” So we planted that very early on and gave her a theme that played with the Dothraki and the other things that we were really able to expand on.  


That must have been quite difficult to create a theme for each character not knowing exactly where their storylines would lead in the books. Did you take inspiration from the script?


When I work on a movie, I look at the script or watch the film and I talk to my director or producers and make a plan: this is our main character, we need a theme for this plot, we need a love theme. This all gets discussed and ideas get talked about, and it’s almost the same here. I like that I didn’t have the books influence me because I know that David and Dan have to omit some things and leave characters out. I was really looking at what was in front of me.


The difficult thing about "Game of Thrones" is, in the beginning, we said, “Look, we have a ton of characters, a ton of plot, let's also make sure that we find the sweet spot of not writing too many themes, because when all of these characters cross, then its confusing rather than helpful." So we were very cautious about who we gave a theme to. Theon, for example, didn’t even have a theme in the first season. But in Season 2, when his character kind of breaks off and does his own thing, we gave him a theme. When Jon Snow came back this season, we decided that it was about time to give him his own theme, so he has a new theme. As the show expands, we add new themes. It’s an interesting combination of how we layer it.


I was going to ask you specifically about the significance of Jon Snow’s song. Now with the big reveal of who his mother is and that he's possibly a Targaryen, did you change the dynamic of his theme to incorporate that?


I actually stayed away from [adding any Targaryen elements] on purpose because I didn’t want to hint at that at all, because the music can be so guiding. We gave him his own theme, which you hear the first time in Episode 3, when he walks away and says, “My watch has ended," and then during the Battle of the Bastards we play it several times. It’s tricky, because we always use the Stark theme for him a lot as well, so on the reveal of his mother, when we show his face, we play the Stark theme. In a sense, I did not set up anything [hinting to Targaryens] because "Game of Thrones" has a very smart audience and its interesting how quickly they dissect every thematic element and how they are able to think, “Oh, this is how it's going to be?”





How did you go about creating the show’s theme song? And were there ever any lyrics for it?


No, there were no lyrics. I’m pretty much an instrumentalist. If I do write songs I need to be teamed up with a lyricist because, to me, a vocal is another instrument. “The Rains of Castamere” came about the other way around. At the end of Season 1, David and Dan said, ”There’s this song in the books that we want you to play a theme to, because at the Red Wedding it will be very important.” So we planned that very early on.


But the main title did not have any lyrics. What they did was they sent me over to the title house that was creating these amazing visuals in their raw form. I was so blown away by it that I ran back to my studio, which was actually pretty close, and just started writing. In terms of direction, what David and Dan said was, “Look it’s a lot of locations, try to make it like a journey.” So I tried to create an overall thematic piece that captures the mood. There's this tiny little piece at the very intro before the melody starts playing -- the piece is in minor, but for a split second it switches to major, and then pulls you back to minor. And I always intended that to be a part of the unpredictability of the show -- not knowing the backstabbing or the conspiracies, the instability about the characters and the story, and never knowing who you can trust. I wanted to implement that immediately with the opening of that piece, where you go, "Wait, is it in major or is it in minor?" And then it settles.


If there were any lyrics to the theme song, can you think of anything that would work?


It would be interesting to put some lyrics to it. I won’t be able to do that because I’m not very good with words. Maybe David and Dan can do that -- they’re the good writers.


Is there a song that you’re proudest of creating for the series?


I think it's always whatever I created last that sticks with me. I remember in Season 3, for example, it was really “Mhysa” -- that finale piece. Then, in Season 4, we had “The Children,” when Arya’s on the boat. And this season, I think it is “Light of the Seven." It's just such a departure from what we had before. It's so exciting the way the plot expands every season that I’m able to reinvent the themes and expand upon the themes, and add new ones.


What's to come in Season 7? Are you going to experiment a bit with music more now that you’ve tested the waters? 


Who knows? I guess it’s hard to say. "Game of Thrones" is always up for surprises, so lets see what we come up with next. We literally just finished. I haven’t really had a chat with David and Dan, so I don’t really know what Season 7 will bring us. It’ll be exciting to see what we can come up with next year.


Listen to Ramin Djawadi's "Light of the Seven" and the rest of the "Game of Thrones" Season 6 soundtrack on Spotify. 


This interview has been edited and condensed.  

-- 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.

Black Girls Rock! Founder To Celebrate Black Women In A New Book

0
0

Beverly Bond is all about black sisterhood and, this time, she's showing it by celebrating other phenomenal black women and girls in a new book that is set to release in fall 2017. 


Bond, who is the founder of Black Girls Rock! -- a mentoring organization that also hosts an annual award show, has consistently uplifted black women through her work and her new book, titled Black Girls Rock!: Celebrating the Power, Beauty and Brilliance of Black Women, aims to do the same. 


“This book will affirm, elevate, and celebrate the unique narratives and rich experiences of black women and girls around the world for generations to come," Bond said in a statement obtained by Entertainment Weekly. 


The book will include powerful imagery, advice, poetry and stories "to showcase the complexity, dynamism, achievements and diverse cultural traditions of Black women from around the world," according to EW.


Through her roles as a businesswoman, DJ, mentor and philanthropist, Bond has always been a source of inspiration to countless women of color and her upcoming book is sure to be a positive influence to people everywhere.

-- 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.

These Families Lost Their Homes Because Of The Rio Olympics

0
0

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will kick off in just over a month, but Brazil has been living in a state of perpetual turmoil. Along with construction delays, the country faces a Zika virus outbreak, a serious economic crisis, and political instability amid President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment and interim President Michel Temer's young presidency. All this raises questions about Brazil's ability to host the Games.


Meanwhile, a mass eviction campaign has uprooted thousands of low-income families in Rio ahead of the massive sporting event.


In his ongoing photo and video project "Olympic Favela," German artist Marc Ohrem-Leclef documents how residents of 14 Rio favelas have been affected by the evictions, which were organized by the city’s housing authority to make way for World Cup and Olympics infrastructure projects.


According to the Rio de Janeiro city government, 22,059 families have been removed from their homes and resettled between 2009 and 2015. 



These communities are being broken up and destroyed. And that changes not only the city's infrastructure. But their identity and soul.
German artist Marc Ohrem-Leclef


Some of Ohrem-Leclef’s portraits capture favela residents posing in front of homes that have been designated for removal. Another set of portraits shows them posing with flaming torches in their fists -- appropriating a symbol of the Games as a sign of their own resistance.


“In these images the residents are no longer a subject that I look upon; their role in the image becomes active as they embrace the opportunity to represent their community, their struggle, and their resistance,” Ohrem-Leclef writes in his artist statement.


Ohrem-Leclef published Olympic Favela, a book containing 67 photographs he took in Rio’s favelas, in 2014.


"These communities are being broken up and destroyed. And that changes not only the city's infrastructure. But their identity and soul,” he told Der Spiegel that year.


Scroll down to see more photos from Marc Ohrem-Leclef's "Olympic Favela." 




A version of this post first appeared on HuffPost Brazil. It has been translated into English and adapted for a U.S. audience.



 

-- 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.

Littlefinger Says Jon And Sansa Have 'New Potential' On 'Game Of Thrones'

0
0

Daenerys' ships on the "Game of Thrones" finale are nothing compared to the 'ship fans are really excited about.


Now that Sansa and Jon Snow are not actually brother and sister, the masses can't stop 'shipping them. When asked about the possibility of Sansa and Jon getting together, actress Sophie Turner told Variety that "stranger things" have happened on "Game of Thrones." And in an email interview with The Huffington Post, Littlefinger himself (Aidan Gillen) said the pair has "new potential."


When asked if we should be worried about Sansa and Jon's relationship, Gillen said, "Do you mean after the scene where it's implied strongly who Jon's parents really are? Well, their relationship has new potential now in light of that for sure. Although, I think having been brought up as siblings, they’re not going to want to go there. Anyway, while the viewers saw it in flashback, it's a secret from a long time back, so who does know? But someone must, and I wouldn’t rule anything out."


So maybe they wouldn't go "there" right away, but still ... Sansa and Jon ... sitting in a tree ... (Actually, hopefully not a Weirwood tree, because then Bran might be watching. And that never leads to anything good.)





(Later, bro.)


When it comes to "Game of Thrones," no one has more secrets than Littlefinger, and Gillen continued to share some of those with us, including if he thinks Littlefinger already knows about Jon Snow's parents, the real meaning behind the look he gave Sansa, and even how that picture of Littlefinger wearing a modern watch started circulating around the web. 





Sansa denying that kiss was so cold I had to turn up the temperature in the room. What was it like filming that? What do you think was going through Littlefinger's head?


Filming anything in this series feels good, especially in snow. Look, there was a first kiss between these two in the scene in the castle courtyard in Season 4. That took her and maybe even him by surprise. Then it happened again in the Winterfell crypt last season, but she was way more self-aware and in control. So it's kind of an obvious progression that now if she doesn't want to go there, she won't, which is good for her and good for Baelish to twig onto, too. I mean, he was only ever chancing it on that front anyway and as that impulsivity, rare in him, is one thing that could bring him down, it's not a bad thing to be checked. It's a little slap on the cheek for him but not too much more and he barely faltered. It's not like she's driving him out of his mind or anything.


What do you think Littlefinger actually wants? Do you believe what he said to Sansa about the Iron Throne with her by his side? 


Littlefinger does want power, respect, status, etc. I think it may be a little more complicated than him on the Iron Throne, her by his side. That may be another way of saying her on the Iron Throne, with him by her side, or standing nearby in the shadows, just like he was at the end of the last episode. We don’t always say it exactly how we see it, or we say it how we think it may best appeal. And we may be placing a prospect in someone's mind so that they react in a certain way. 


What was Littlefinger thinking when everyone started chanting, "King in the North”?


Excitement. It's all kicking off, and we don’t know where it's going to go. He likes heading into periods of uncertainty.  


What are your thoughts on that look Littlefinger gave Sansa while everyone was chanting "King in the North." What was the meaning? What were you trying to convey?


Well, that's in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? We have to keep a certain amount to ourselves, and it's probably not as interesting for everything to be explained. There's the obvious note that I'm checking with Sansa on something I’ve flagged to her already this season a couple of times -- Jon Snow is not really your brother.





Image: HBO/Vanity Fair


What are your thoughts on the big reveal that Lyanna Stark is Jon Snow's mom? Do you think Littlefinger already knows?


I thought it was a great moment, but like I said earlier that while it was revealed to the audience, not many characters would know. Or if they’d kept it a secret for so long, why would they break now? Of course, it's being revealed to the audience for a reason yet to be ascertained. So does Littlefinger know? Well, now that you mention it ...


Did Littlefinger really not know about Ramsay Bolton?


Eh, yes and no. Yes, that he might be hard work, but that it was a valid if dangerous move with potential gain for Sansa and myself. Not that he was such a maniac. So it was careless, a miscalculation, and I will regret it to my dying day. That's my take on it anyway, but you’d have to ask George R.R. Martin, too.


What do you think we can expect from Littlefinger and the North in Season 7? 


Not knowing is beautiful right now. 


In Season 1, Littlefinger betrays Ned Stark. Is this moment still in play? What would happen if Sansa finds out?


Yes, while some things are best forgotten all those moments are always still in play. While there was always the justification of, “I tried to tell Ned, but he didn’t listen,” I still held a dagger to his throat. Not an image I would want to be in Sansa's mind. Although, she might possibly understand. Arya might understand it in a different way, of course.


Where is Jon Snow's direwolf, Ghost?


Ghost got misdirected and is in the Jon Snow Pub on Broadwick Street in London, where he’s drinking a big bowl of warm brandy-infused milk getting his strength up for next season now that winter has come.


The Knights of the Vale scene was so reminiscent of something from "Lord of the Rings." Do you think Littlefinger could secretly be Gandalf? Were the similarities ever discussed? Any homages there?


I don’t think Littlefinger and Gandalf are related. There is, of course, that similarity in showing up with the army to save the day at a crucial moment which may have been a homage, but it's also a common storytelling trope. But nothing discussed, no. Interestingly, well before that Episode 9 scene aired, there was a picture circulated and widely reported on of Littlefinger allegedly wearing a watch in a sequence in The Vale.






Gandalf has also been pictured wearing a watch while wielding a sword in "LOTR." This could mean they both have some kind of common system going on, but while I can’t vouch for Gandalf, I could see straight away that my picture, while well executed, was very obviously mocked up from an image from the opening sequence of "Dark Knight Rises." That's where the hands and watch come from -- they’re mine, but from something else. They even threw in a belt that wasn’t there and besides, I’ve never worn a watch in real life, so that could never have happened anyway. I don’t know about Ian McKellen’s watch, but it's always nice to be in stellar company on YouTube mashups.


And now his watch meme has ended.

-- 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.

Rebecca Hall 'Blown Away' By Steven Spielberg's On-Screen Adaptation Of 'The BFG'

0
0



Rebecca Hall has worked with her fair share of well-known directors, including Christopher Nolan, Woody Allen and Ben Affleck, but her recent experience on "The BFG" with Steven Spielberg was one for the books. 


The actress, who plays Mary in the onscreen adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved novel, opened up to The Huffington Post about her "special experience" working with Spielberg during an AOL Build interview on Tuesday. 


"Steven Spielberg was a huge part of my childhood, like everyone's, I guess," Hall said, referencing her love of "E.T." and "Jaws" (which she says she watched when she was "far too young.") Hall was thrilled to be a part of the whimsical movie, which tells the story of a young orphan, Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), who forms a bond with a non-human-eating giant nicknamed the BFG or the Big Friendly Giant, played by Mark Rylance.


"He seems to have a very unique access to what it is to be a child still, and he has all of that wonder and excitement and joy about life," Hall added of Spielberg. "I think that's what makes his films for children so brilliant and also what makes him so brilliant to direct children. It was really special to watch him do that and watch him create this world." 



Hall appears in the live-action part of the film, which takes place in Buckingham Palace as the Queen (Penelope Wilton) and co. meet the BFG. But despite not being involved in any of the green screen, CGI and motion-capture bits, the actress was "blown away" by the special effects and Rylance's imaginative performance. 


"I'm in the last quarter of the film, so when I watched the film, I was very much like an audience member who had no expectation or understanding of what I was supposed to see for the first hour and 15 minutes. And I saw it for the first time with an audience at the Cannes Film Festival, which was kind of crazy, and I was blown away by it because the effects are unparalleled to anything that I've seen. It's completely magical and it's completely transportive and fantastical, but it's also completely real," she explained. "I acted with Mark Rylance, who plays the BFG, and everything that I saw him do, everything that I saw him act, is the same in the animation. Exactly. I could see his performance."


"The BFG" hits theaters on Friday. 


 


Watch Rebecca Hall's full AOL Build interview below: 




-- 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.

Today's Artists Are Sick Of History Framing Women As Perfect

0
0

In art and in life, women have long been held to impossible standards of perfection.


Walk through the halls of any museum and you're sure to encounter classically rendered depictions of ladies -- or, more aptly, muses -- draped languidly over sofas, covering their body parts modestly yet suggestively, looking longingly into the distance, or, well, dead. And even in death, most appear unruffled, the ideal balance of innocence and seductiveness.


It comes as no great surprise that artists, mostly male, chose to immortalize women this way. The scrupulous standards fictitious women are made to maintain in art mimic those thrust upon them in real life. Be modest, but not uptight; sexy, but not sexual; beautiful, but not vain. The list goes on. 


An exhibition of contemporary art titled "The Woman Destroyed," on view now at New York's P.P.O.W. Gallery, attempts to rip the ideal woman from art history's grip, presenting instead a slew of female subjects who are struggling, hungry, furious, bulging, drowning, bleeding and crashing. On board are artists Elizabeth Glaessner, Lauren Kelley, David Mramor, Allison Schulnik, Jessica Stoller, and Robin F. Williams (as well as curator Anneliis Beadnell), all exploring the overlapping theme of hot mess as muse. 



The exhibit takes its title from Simone de Beauvoir's 1967 story of the same name, which follows a middle-aged woman named Monique. After a life spent putting her husband and children's needs before her own, Monique experiences a crisis of self, plagued by loneliness and alienation when left on her own.



"I've lost my own image," she says. "I did not look at it often; but it was there, in the background, just as Maurice had drawn it for me. A straightforward, genuine, 'authentic' woman, without mean-mindedness, uncompromising, but at the same time understanding, indulgent, sensitive, deeply feeling, intensely aware of things and of people, passionately devoted to those she loved and creating happiness for them. A fine life, serene, full, 'harmonious.' It is dark: I cannot see myself anymore. And what do the others see? Maybe something hideous."



The multidisciplinary works that make up "The Woman Destroyed" are not the docile models that inspired painters like Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and John Everett Millais, among countless others. The women shown are raw, unravelling and unapologetic. They're at times too vulnerable, at times too forceful, beautiful in all their hideousness. Unlike de Beauvoir's protagonists, the artists of "The Woman Destroyed" have not yet reached middle age, and yet the similar feelings of alienation, oppression and discrimination resonate.



Artist Elizabeth Glaessner creates images at once globular and electric, as if covered in residue left over from an upcoming apocalypse. In "Laid Back," she subverts the trope of the reclining nude, offering up a red mutant figure with her legs spread wide, the viewer placed right in the middle, à la "The Origin of the World." Her vagina resembles a dark orb, expanding outward ever so ominously, while her other features are nearly impossible to make out amidst a pool of volatile red. 


In her oil painting "Centaurette in Forest," artist Allison Schulnik applies her signature technique of paint on paint on paint, piled high until skin resembles a mess of scars.The seemingly pretty picture is obscured by a horrific gash across the centaurette's face, a stark contrast to the confident libido embodied in her pose. Like Glaessner, Schulnik's very technique communicates a sharp departure from traditional portraits, soft and precise like a proto-Photoshop. Resembling frosting left out to rot, Schulnik's impasto paintings evoke feelings of chaos, muck and decay.



In her work, artist Lauren Kelley examines black perceptions of self, often using black Barbie dolls as a point of entry. In her digital photos, she takes the classically poised dolls, symbols of impractical femininity to so many young girls, and portrays them warped, botched, or slightly off balance. In "Backside Float," a black doll in a makeshift pink bathing suit floats awkwardly through an opaque green liquid looking more like toxic waste than an idyllic body of water. Kelley transforms her doll's thighs with brown clay, endowing her shape with more realistic curves.


The only sculptor in the show, Jessica Stoller creates pristine ceramic depictions of Baroque babes gone haywire. In "Untitled (Slip)," a woman's smiling face is interrupted by a slew of pretty things and baked goods -- a scoop of chocolate ice cream, a batch of macarons. And yet the buffet of sweets resembles human carnage when presented atop the anonymous woman's bust, dripping down her head like blood and guts. 



The only male artist in the show, David Mramor, explores the concept of memory as filtered through photographs in his work. His "Venus" series features archival photos of his late mother, adapted with slashes and streaks that speak to the modifications memories undergo inside the mind's vault. The photographs appear nostalgic and haunting, fitted with acrylic paint marks like oddly attractive lacerations or wounds. 


Finally, artist Robin F. Williams has long explored representations of femininity and self in art history, drawing inspiration from artists like Georges Seurat and Mary Cassatt. In "Bag Lady," Williams depicts a nude woman in aviator sunglasses, the bulk of her body and face covered by a brown paper bag. The psychedelic colors bring the image into a hallucinatory realm, where painterly realism verges with something illusory and fantastical, perhaps a more experimental and radical future for the female subjects of figurative art. 


The six artists in "The Woman Destroyed" offer distinct and forceful rebuttals to art history's tired standards of female representation. The show shies away from women who sit quietly and look pretty, in favor of those that yearn, gush, scream, flaunt and break. Even amidst all the horror, they look good doing so.


"The Woman Destroyed" runs from June 30 to July 29, 2016 at P.P.O.W. Gallery in New York. 


-- 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.

Obama Foundation Announces Architects For Presidential Library

0
0

President Barack Obama's library will be designed by the New York firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and the Chicago-based Interactive Design Architects, the Obama Foundation announced Thursday.


The two groups will oversee construction of the Chicago library, a project that could involve collaboration with up to 15-20 architects, the foundation said. Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, a husband-and-wife team, were chosen from seven finalists.


Projects by Williams and Tsien have included the American Folk Art Museum and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, as well as the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts. Interactive Design's work includes the modern wing at the Art Institute of Chicago and the courtroom renovations at the Milwaukee federal building.


"Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners stood out in their commitment to exploring, together with the Foundation, the best ways of creating an innovative center for action that inspires communities and individuals to take on our biggest challenges," Obama Foundation Chairman Martin Nesbitt said in a statement. "Interactive Design Architects brings local knowledge and a track record for delivering excellence to large, complex civic projects."


Washington Park and Jackson Park, both near the Obamas' Hyde Park home, are the two finalists for the library's location. Obama announced more than a year ago that the library would be built in Chicago.

-- 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.


Blink-182 Talks Teen Angst And The Mysterious Meaning Behind Its Name

0
0

“I guess this is growing up,” Mark Hoppus sings with a raspy croon. It’s the catchy, jump-around chorus of “Dammit,” one of Blink-182’s breakout songs, recorded in 1997 for their second studio album, “Dude Ranch.”


Hearing the band play the song this week at a Capital One and Uber-sponsored show in Manhattan, where they performed their old stalwarts plus a few hooky selections from their new album, “California,” is a quick trip back in time. Although much has changed for the band mates in the past 19 years -- one member, Tom DeLonge, has been replaced by Alkaline Trio singer and guitarist Matt Skiba, and bassist Mark Hoppus has a teen son of his own now -- they’ve retained their same smooth, buoyant pop-punk sound, revisiting the palatable anthems that elevated their tinny three-piece to pop star status.



The urgent instrumentals and sulking lyrics of earlier albums reflected on high school breakups and the pleasant thrills of young love. In “California,” the same mood is transposed onto adult experiences. “Save your breath / I’m nearly bored to death,” the chorus of their single “Bored to Death,” hums on. “Life is too short to last long.” 


“I don’t feel, personally, that I’ve lost the angst. I still get upset about things in the world and things in my life and things that happen with my friends,” Hoppus said in an interview with The Huffington Post, adding, “Hopefully I’ve gotten better as a lyricist as I’ve gotten older.”


Just as with “Dude Ranch,” “Enema of the State,” and “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket,” the songs on “California” are inspired by personal experiences, friends’ experiences, and fictional scenarios. “Dammit,” for example, was written by Hoppus after he imagined running into an ex after a tumultuous breakup; many of the band’s current hits employ the same fun yet brooding approach.


“This band is about fun, primarily. There’s some funny stuff but there’s also a lot of heart. I think heart, in a word -- Blink-182 has heart,” Hoppus said in an interview with iHeartRadio on Wednesday. He elaborated on the band’s self-described mission, and the latest album’s title, decidedly less raunchy or punny than “Enema of the State” or “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.”


To Hoppus, California, the band’s home state, evokes images of, “sunny days and palm trees and beaches and things like that, but there’s also a dark underside of California, like the subcultures of punk rock and skateboarding and urban decay and all of that kind of stuff. And I think that’s kind of what Blink-182 feels like. Like bright, sunshiney, but also dark and angsty.”


With the addition of Skiba, the band has added another source of inspiration for their material: dark works of literature. Skiba and Hoppus quipped that they should start their own book club, after bonding over Erik Larsson’s Dead Wake and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian.


“I like really dark things,” Skiba said, citing Southern Gothic as his favorite genre. “Not in my life personally, but art-wise, I like things that are stark and bleak." 



Blink-182 fans might’ve already had an inkling that the members were interested in darker themes; when speculating about what the mysterious "182" in the band’s name might signify, a popular theory surfaced that it’s the number of times Al Pacino says “f**k” in “Scarface.”


When asked about the theory, Hoppus quickly debunked it. “It’s not true because it’s not the correct number of times that Al Pacino said the f-word in ‘Scarface,’” he said, turning to Skiba for a hypothesis of his own. “What’s today’s story?” 


Skiba, who listened to the band long before he was invited to join it, posited an alternative explanation. “‘Turk 182!’? That’s what I always thought it was,” he said. “There was a movie in the '80s that I loved as a kid, there’s a high school hero kind of like ‘Ferris Bueller.’ I first got a Blink record when it was just called Blink. When the 182 came along I thought it was [named after] ‘Turk 182!’”


Skiba isn’t the only Blink-182 fan that gets to run in close circles with Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker. Hoppus’ son, who’s now 14 years old, enjoys listening to “California” at home.


“He really likes this record. I’ll be hearing him in his room and he’s doing homework and he’s singing Blink songs,” Hoppus said. “That makes me happy.”


Although Hoppus has taken his new role as a father in stride, the spirit that contributed to the writing of “Dammit,” a raw take achieving maturity in slow, painful increments, is alive in his approach to making music today.


“I mean, we’re responsible human beings with kids and things like that, but we also get to play music for a living,” Hoppus said. “We’re lucky enough to be in a career where we don’t necessarily have to grow up.”


Watch our full interview with Blink-182 on HuffPost Live below: 




-- 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.

Boy Spends His Allowance On Hundreds Of Books For Inmates

0
0

This boy took a page out of the book of generosity. 


Tyler Fugett didn't use all his allowance money on himself, but instead spent it on hundreds of books for inmates at the local jail in Clarksville, Tennessee.


The 9-year-old, who recently donated the books to Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, did so with the aim of supporting inmates.



“I don’t want people to think bad things while they are in jail,” Tyler said, according to a press release provided to The Huffington Post. “I want people to get out and not do bad things again.”


Tyler, who has a family member who's spent time in jail, saved up his allowance for the cause. He then hit up some clearance sales to buy the books. 



While the sweet boy initially donated over 100 books last week, he went back to the sheriff's office on Wednesday to drop off an additional 100. 


The boy's gesture is certainly beautiful and it felt even more meaningful due to the jail library's circumstances. 


“Since no tax payer money is used to purchase books, we rely 100 percent on donations from the community to stock our library,” Sandra Brandon, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said in the release. “Tyler’s generosity is truly appreciated.”


And don't worry, Tyler received a reward for beautiful efforts. Sheriff John Fuson presented the 9-year-old with a Sheriff’s pin and Sheriff’s challenge coin. He also personally thanked the boy for his amazing work. 


Bravo, Tyler. You've got one novel idea. 

-- 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.

How A Filipino Designer Helped Bring A Story Of Liberian Women To Life

0
0

"Eclipsed" made history this year as Broadway's first all-female production --written, directed and acted by black women. The play, a story of five mothers and daughters fighting for survival during the Second Liberian Civil War, quickly drew crowds as it not only recounted an important history of resilience, but reminded audiences today that violence against women is hardly a thing of the past.


Another member of the "Eclipsed" team made history too -- Clint Ramos, one of the few men on the creative side, who was tasked with bringing the play's set and costume design to life. After winning a Tony at this year's ceremony for his work on "Eclipsed," he became the first person of color to win in the costume design category, and the fourth Filipino to have ever won the coveted Broadway award.



Although Ramos himself never appears on stage, his work is unmissable throughout the production. He crafted both the scenery and the clothing, painting a picture of Liberia onto the stages of New York City. He worked to transform five iconic actors of color -- Lupita Nyong’o, Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah and Saycon Sengbloh -- into women held captive as "wives," who refer to each other as numbers rather than names. He worked to transform John Golden Theatre into a rebel camp, where the characters, forced into either sexual servitude or militant brutality, braved their days.


"Eclipsed" ended its run on Broadway on June 19, only to announce that a version of the production will head to San Francisco's Curran Theater in 2017. (The west coast show will provide free tickets to 10,000 girls ages 16 to 24, as part of an initiative to bring under-served young women into the theater world.) Ahead of its transfer, Ramos spoke to The Huffington Post about his vision for "Eclipsed," the importance of diversity on Broadway, and what it felt like to represent the Philippines. 


Check out Ramos' descriptions of individual characters in the photo captions below:



On distinguishing the characters of "Eclipsed" through their clothes:


"That is sort of an incidental result of really just diving into the characters. It started with preliminary research and in-depth conversations with director Danai [Gurira] and Liesl [Tommy, the writer]. We really looked at the documentaries and the photographs of that war. But also Danai had actually gone to Liberia to interview these women. They’re older now, but the characters are based on real people. So we had this pretty solid idea of who they were -- or what they ought to have looked like.


"I’ve had a long-standing relationship with Liesl and I’m actually able to have discussions with her about casting. She throws out ideas of actors with me and we sort of go back and forth on what their physical types are. When you really sort of parse the play, Danai has written it [...] in a very Greek, classical way. And with those plays, the characters are really defined. But the way we defined our characters ... it’s already in the writing, it’s in the research. So all we really needed to do was pay attention. For me, that was the only way, in a documentary fashion, to honor them, by replicating what’s in the research."



On the ways women’s hair (and wigs and wraps) shape their identity:


"I do a lot of shows with people and women of color. One can never underestimate how hair is tied to women of color's identities. And with this particular piece, we really needed to get it accurate. I work with one of the most brilliant wig designers in American theater. Her name is Cookie Jordan. She and I and the actors really took the conversation seriously.


"If you see hair braided on stage, it’s a wig. I cannot state the importance of it, how we went through so many iterations. For example, with Maima’s wig, I had this idea -- with her fashion sense -- that she is hair-obsessed. They talk about it in the play. Bessie says, 'My hair has never looked so good as when [Wife] Number Two did it.' So all of her braids are on point, her extensions are on point. That sort of shows when she braids Lupita’s hair, as a tight, upward braid too.


"And Lupita’s hair at the beginning was a huge discussion. We had to calibrate and recalibrate what the exact look was. Because we wanted it to be accurate historically and physically, but we also didn’t want it to distract because Lupita is wearing it. The reward for us is when she doesn’t get an entrance applause. Because she’s unrecognizable enough."



On the universal emotions tied to clothes:


"One of the bigger challenges was to really make [the play] reach across the presidium and reach the audience. In a more direct way, make these women more familiar to an American audience.


"For example, the idea that we see a dress, one that gets seen and handled many times [as a prop], actually be worn on stage, is great. Like that yellow dress -- the dress Bessie wears when she’s no longer pregnant. [Editor’s Note: It’s actually an altered Juicy Couture dress bought at Housing Works that is first seen on stage in a pile of loot the soldiers have brought back for the women at the camp.] Its meaning transfers throughout the story from, Oh, it could be the dress of Rita’s daughter, who’s missing, because you see Rita hold on to it for a moment. But then you see Bessie actually pick that dress and you see her wear it. Its meaning transfers.


"It was interesting to curate that loot, to see how much of it would be familiar and how much of it would be traditional. And by curating that, you’re showing a history, a swath of who the victims were. There are businesswomen’s clothing and men’s clothing and children’s clothing, with blood on them. It’s storytelling."



On reminding the audience that this story -- the story of violence against women -- is still happening today:


"Somewhere in the middle of the run [of the play], we started to do these dedications, where women would come up after the performance and they would read one of the names of the Boko Haram girls -- one or two names. And we would ask the audience to repeat the names. And the hashtag was #KnowHerName.


"The former UN ambassador came and said the youngest [Boko Haram] victim was three months old. It makes you want to throw up. And the oldest was 87 years old. Violence against women is an epidemic and the problem is that we don’t treat it that way. We think of these girls as a unit, who disappeared in this other nation with a machismo culture. But no. [Violence against women] happens everywhere. It’s infuriating."


On the pressures that came with helping to tell such a profound story:


"I don’t want to speak for the ladies, but in conversations with them, I think most of them knew that it was such a powerful piece. But they came to understand it as so much bigger -- the response was so much bigger. It was unbelievable. And for the performers, they had to work around that. It really took a toll on the actors. All of these actors come from the African diaspora, so it’s so personal. As much as they are all professional and highly trained actors, I think this particular piece was hard for them to automate. It’s hard to distance themselves from the characters and what happened and what’s happening in this world. They felt that pressure, they felt that responsibility, and in my opinion, they rose to it. They represented wonderfully. But it was a lot."



On being the fourth Filipino person to have won a Tony -- and the first person of color to win in the costume category:


"When I got the nomination, Lea Salonga, who was the first Filipino to win a Tony, tweeted about it and it sort of became bananas. I didn’t know I was the fourth. I thought there was just Lea and Bobby Lopez. And then I realized Jhett Tolentino, a producer, had already won. When it hit the Philippines, they took it very seriously. And all of a sudden it became a symbol of pride for the country. I have to say, it wasn’t fun, because there’s so much pressure. Masses in churches were doing offerings for this. My mother was texting me telling me that there was a mass offering in the town that I come from. It felt like the nomination wasn’t enough, I had to win.


"And I really did not think I was going to win. I thought Tom Scutt, the English designer who had been nominated for 'King Charles III,' would win. I saw that show and thought it was beautiful and detailed and lush. The costumes were phenomenal. I suppose I’m happy that the voters saw the other side of costuming. Usually those kind of shoes get rewarded; the sort of lavish, intricate works of fashion. It was refreshing, and made me happy, that a design like this could be rewarded."



On this year’s Tonys diversity.


"Even at the ceremony, it was wonderful. My category was the first to be called -- and of course, I had so many people to thank but when I looked out at the audience there was Oprah and I blanked. But also when I looked out, it really was a sea of diversity. It was so great to see the faces out there -- it looked like the A train, but really well-dressed.


"I hope it’s not an aberration. I hope it’s a vision of the future. I still think there needs to be a little -- no, a lot more work done on diversity and representation for people who work off stage and backstage. I think, of the creatives who got nominations,only six were of color. Of the designers, only two were of color. Paul Tazewell, of 'Hamilton,' was the other. We talked a lot about what it all really means. For us, it is a big responsibility, because we are not in a position of entitlement. And we cannot take it lightly. We need to show younger artists of color that there is a life in the theater for them. There is a place for them. When I was coming up, I had to seek them out, because I wanted to make sure a person who liked me could have a place in the American theater.


"There is an argument that we need to foster more writers of color so that there’s more work for people of color. Yes, that’s true, absolutely. But we also need to rework the ways we think of staffing and casting shows. Why couldn’t there be a multicultural check-off? Why couldn’t, for instance, 'Three Sisters' -- a classic [written by Anton Checkov] -- be three sisters from different places? When I see non-traditional casting, or color-conscious casting, it’s the first thing I notice but it’s the last thing I think about when I walk out of a show. Because I know that these actors of color are actors and they’re storytellers and they inhabit their characters, and I just walk out of there with a story.


"We have to make sure that kids know that there are options. And it really starts with producers and gatekeepers of color."


On the importance of early access to the arts:


"We all started out as performers [at a younger age]. When you join a drama club you become enmeshed in a theatrical life, and not only is it awesome in terms of being able to perform and all that kind of stuff, it’s also a great liberal arts education. You get to go to places you’d never dream of. I'd get to immerse myself in specific cultures and periods of times and places that I would hardly have ever decided to visit if I wasn’t in theater. Even if that dream of, Oh, maybe I can be an actor, comes to an end, you still want to be a part of the theater. I wanted to be a part of a community. I liked the catharsis that comes from working in the theater. 


This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

-- 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.

Black-And-White Photos Depict The Wide Range Of Mothers Battling Addiction Around The Country

0
0

"Dear Mama," photographer and conceptual artist Branislav Jancik begins, in a letter to his mother Mila, who had long struggled with alcohol addiction and prescription pill abuse. 


"Here I am writing you this letter, and it’s hard to find words. In the last 29 years we went through a lot together. Now the end is mixed with tears and laughter. All this was like a weird dream that we will always remember, like we will always remember you Mama. And we will carry you in our hearts forever, because you were and you will always be the best mother in the world."


Jancik, who was born in Vukovar (in former Yugoslavia) in 1983, had a rough childhood, growing up dependent on a mother who was dependent on something else. Later in his life, the two lost touch -- Jancik moved to the United States, his mother remained in her home in Germany -- until Mila was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in November of 2012 and given approximately a year left to live. The news inspired Jancik to reach out to her after 10 years by writing the heartfelt letter. 



"Until now I didn’t understand that our hearts are the same and that words can stab like knives," Jancik wrote. "I am very sorry that I hurt you a thousand times and that I left you alone when it was the most difficult for you, but that’s life. We always learn at the end."


"I wrote her that I'm sorry for all the clashes we had because of her addiction," Jancik explained further in a statement for Silvana Editoriale. "That I'm sorry that I was ashamed of her and that I'm sorry that I ran away from her when she needed me the most. I wanted her to know that now I understand her."


Mila died in 2014. Jancik never built up the strength to give his mother the letter. While writing it, however, Jancik realized his story -- and the simultaneous feelings of pain and shame that accompanied it -- wasn't an anomaly, but a statistic. According to a recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 90.6 percent of the 17.3 million Americans with alcohol dependence or abuse do not receive treatment, or even perceive a need for it. Over 10 percent of children in this country live with a parent with an alcohol problem. 


Jancik was inspired to aid families like his own, torn apart over addiction and pride, hoping to help them replace bitterness with forgiveness, anger with understanding. Jancik traveled throughout America documenting stories like his own, of mothers and families strained and fragmented by addiction, whether alcohol or heroin.



In August 2013, Jancik set off with producer Goran Macura on an 11-day road trip, documenting 40 mothers from six states. For each subject he took two photographs: one of the mother alone, and one of her with her children. He then invited the mothers to write a letter to their kids, telling their stories without concealment or humiliation. If old enough, the children could write letters back. The images and texts come together in Letter to my Mother, a photography book exploring the power of motherhood in the face of life's greatest challenges. 


Jancik's subjects vary in age, ethnicity and socio-economic status, speaking to the vast assortment of individuals affected by addiction. A written letter accompanies each of Jancik's portraits; some are from mother to child, others from child to mother, illuminating the hard realities and emotional subtleties that often go unsaid. Many, through honesty that unites the personal and the universal, dismantle fixed perceptions, stereotypes and taboos associated with alcoholism. 


"Let’s talk about dirty words," one subject, Ellie, wrote to her children. "Do you know what isn’t a dirty word? Alcoholic. Do you know what else isn’t a dirty word? Addict. But lots of people who struggle with alcohol or drugs don’t ask for help because they think alcoholic and addict are dirty words, something to be ashamed of. I was ashamed."



Jancik's photographs, captured in stark black and white, show that addiction doesn't affect any single single type of person, or look any one kind of way. Sometimes it manifests in tired lines written across a face or a certain sad glimmer in the eyes. And, sometimes, it isn't visible at all. 


"My mother, all of these women, all of their children -- they are beautiful,"Jancik said in a statement accompanying the exhibit. "There is not one face of addiction. The women I chose are not defined by their disease, but by their motherhood. It can affect anyone, addiction doesn’t discriminate. It was important for me to make that point -- to show these women’s faces with the ultimate goal to make the conversation around addiction an open one. It doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be hidden by shame."


Published by Silvana Editorale, Letter to My Mother is available at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York.


-- 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.

Prepare Yourself For Donald Trump: The Musical

0
0

Finally, some good news for everyone unable to get tickets to “Hamilton” -- there’s a new musical about one of America’s most iconic political figures: Donald Trump.


Drumpf: The Musical may soon be heading to several cities, including, if its creator gets his wish, Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention.


The brainchild of longtime liberal author Bob Kuttner, “Drumpf” is the tale of the real estate mogul’s rise through the 2016 Republican primary, concluding with a duel between Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at the GOP convention. Think Woodward and Bernstein meet Lin-Manuel Miranda, with a touch of Weird Al Yankovic thrown in.


Yes. This is very real.


Kuttner, who co-founded The American Prospect, said he started writing songs after he and his wife saw “Hamilton.” He showed them to his son Gabe – an actor, director and producer – who reached out to contacts in the hip-hop community and assembled a cast. And it just kept growing.


“Whenever you think you are writing a parody, Trump actually goes and does it, or even tops it,” Kuttner said.


“Drumpf” may be about the GOP’s blonde and bombastic presumptive nominee. But stylistically, it’s an homage to “Hamilton,” down to the opening number, rapped by an incredulous Jeb Bush:



How does a bastard, philanderer, son of a developer,


Man who made his billions on his father’s millions


Become reborn, as the champion of the scorned?


A shameless flatterer with shucks and schemes


Manipulating the shattered dreams of the suckers


An atheist, a twice-divorced huckster


A 69-year-old TV codger, a draft-dodger, with bad hair


How does such a man become


America’s populist billionaire?



It’s also, to a certain degree, an act of journalism -- a long-form piece of liberal commentary set to rap.


When "Drumpf," which follows in the footsteps of other Trump musicals, is complete, Kuttner expects it to run around an hour and 20 minutes. So far, he's written roughly 90 percent of the script and finished 18 songs, out of a likely 25. Ron Wyman, a documentary filmmaker and music videographer, has already made a few of them into videos.





It took Miranda nearly seven years to write his Pulitzer Prize-winning epic. Kuttner only started in March, though to be fair, Broadway isn’t yet knocking on his door. He’s hoping to debut the full show after Labor Day and have a short run through Nov. 8.


By that point, he hopes “Drumpf” will be “mainly of historical interest” — and not a depiction of a sitting president.

-- 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.

A Wild New Fairy Tale Breaks Down The Barrier Between Good And Evil

0
0


Before the earwormy Disney hit “Frozen” made sentimental children of us all, Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story about a young girl who saves her sibling from the icy grip of a wrathful queen. “The Snow Queen,” one of the longest early fairy tales, follows Kay, a boy who’s pierced by a wicked troll-mirror, and his sister, Gerda, who saves him from the sinister young man he becomes.


It’s a story that puts good and evil in stark opposition, while recognizing that one individual can undergo a transformation, waffling between the two depending on his experiences. 


It’s an oft-adapted tale, one that’s given new life in a forthcoming book by Young Adult author Danielle Paige, whose writing interests lie in fairy tales, fantasy, and soap operas, which she writes for her day job. I spoke with Paige about her dynamic writing career, and why disrupting the idea of good versus evil is always a fun task.



On her forthcoming book, Stealing Snow, and the beauty of fairy tales: 



I absolutely love fairy tales. This one is based on “The Snow Queen,” and it’s how the Snow Queen became evil. I think as a kid […] I just fell in love with them. I never thought this would be my journey, but it’s just been so much fun.


I think everyone is more familiar with [“The Snow Queen”] from “Frozen” now. But “Frozen” is a really sweet take on the story, and I’ve always kind of liked that it’s this dark little creepy thing, about a girl who steals a boy to solve a puzzle. Something about it struck me when I was a kid. I liked that it wasn’t so simple.



On the problem of breaking characters down into good versus evil:



I think I learned this from my soap opera days, honestly, but I don’t think anyone who’s a villain thinks they’re villain. I think everyone has their [...] reasons for how they ended up the way they ended up. I was always fascinated by how a person became dark. I think there’s good and bad in everyone.



On working as a writer for soap operas:



I spent the day with cute actors, and researching stories in the writer’s office. My job was to do character research, and it was really fun. I was [on “Guiding Light”] way back in the day when Matt Bomer was on the show, and Hayden Panettiere. It was a good training ground, I think, to learn how to write fantasy. Soap writing is really about making unbelievable things feel believable.



On writing teen love stories, versus adult love stories:



I can say that the love scenes don’t go quite as far. When you’re writing soaps, it’s like, take this as far as the camera people will possibly allow. But [teen love stories are] more about the firsts, it’s more romantic, you’re figuring out stuff. You’re approaching first love, and first kisses, and first everything.



 


Also on HuffPost:


Unhappily Ever After: How Women Became Seen And Not Heard In Our Favorite Fairy Tales

-- 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.

I'm An Introvert. This Is What Living Out Loud Means To Me.

0
0

This article first appeared on QuietRev.com


My study of the English language began with prepositions: on top of, next tobehind, under. Then they developed into real sentences, phrases that I would conjure up in my head while lying in bed or grudgingly practicing the piano. Valerie’s finger is on top of B-flat. Her mom is next to her watching. There is dust behind the piano, and there is dust under it. These were facts: observations using prepositions and the basic rules of English grammar, much similar to the first books I started reading. “In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf,” I would read from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, in an almost mantra-like manner, “out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.” I remembered these prepositions, constantly repeating them in my head. “He stayed inside. He built a cocoon around himself. He built a cocoon around himself.”


As I was an only child, it was no surprise that I would eventually build a cocoon around myself. What was surprising, however, was that the cocoon would be made of books. I’d stay inside, preferring to read rather than socialize with others. As a result, my life consisted of only the English language in print form. (Valerie is always on her bed reading. Where’s Valerie? Oh, she’s next to the piano, reading. Behind the couch, reading. Under the blankets, reading.) I didn’t talk much, preferring to interact with my books instead. (What’s up, Harry? Nothing much. Just saving the wizarding world again. How about you?)


Because of my tendency to keep to myself, I was first labeled mute. Then came the word “shy.” (She’s a shy one, isn’t she?) Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost-right word was the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. In my case, I was searching for the right word to define what I was, who I was. (That Valerie, she’s an introvert, isn’t she?)


The characters I usually read about in my novels were brave, heroic, but most of all, they were unspeakably loud. They spoke volumes with their words; they stood on podiums and yelled declarations of war; and they made heartwarming speeches. As time passed and I gradually became aware of my own “quiet” nature, those characters became enemies to me, accosting me through the pages. Even the very hungry caterpillar had to come out of his cocoon, they seemed to say, so why won’t you? Why wouldn’t I? A simple question. I had no idea. My entrance to the outside world was a forced one, but it also made me realize what I had been missing all along. (The girl is on the couch watching TV. Next to her is a bag of Doritos. Behind the bag of Doritos is the remote. Under the remote is the girl’s Calculus homework.)


It became increasingly clear that my characters weren’t lying in a book somewhere; they were here, ready for me to see and feel and experience. And they talked too, with high pitches and low ones, with resonance and tonality. Some had quiet voices, others had loud ones. It was here I learned the second form of the English language: the vocal kind.


My love of the outside world was what sparked my desire to write. And when I finally did, my protagonist was brave and strong: she stood on a podium and yelled, and she made heartwarming speeches to a devoted audience. She raised her hand when she had something meaningful to say. She was at once fierce and dedicated, yet quiet and reserved. She was a butterfly, beautiful and powerfully quiet. I imagined what others would say about her: she’s always on top of things. Next to the word “hero” in the dictionary, you’ll find her name. Behind her are those who support her. Under her are the people who listen.


When all of this came out on paper, I wasn’t surprised. Of course, she would possess all of these qualities—she was a hero. She was an introvert.


Do you have a story to share about being an introvert? Click here to view further information and submit your story—we’d love to hear from you. 



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.




Also on HuffPost: 


-- 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.


'Ben And Lauren: Happily Ever After' And All The Boring Reality TV We Love

0
0


You can be highbrow. You can be lowbrow. But can you ever just be brow? Welcome to Middlebrow, a weekly examination of pop culture. Sign up to receive it in your inbox weekly.


Bachelor Nation has been rocked by latest Bachelor Ben Higgins’ announcement. No, not that he was considering running for Congress as a Republican (though, that too), but that he and fiancée Lauren Bushnell would be starring on their very own spinoff show, “Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After.”


The reality show, which will air on Disney’s Freeform this fall, will reportedly follow the blissful couple as they prepare for marriage and their new, post-”Bachelor” lives. (Bushnell is a flight attendant, but she says she’s looking into other careers that might dovetail better with her very visible identity as a “Bachelor” star.) Though no couple from the franchise has ever gotten their very own spinoff series, fans already expected they’d at least see Ben and Lauren exchange vows on camera. Several of the most beloved “Bachelor” couples have done so.


Apparently, Freeform thinks this slender, self-effacing, loveable golden couple can carry more than just a wedding special. Freeform’s executive vice president of programming and development, Karey Burke, dubbed the pair “the biggest ‘Bachelor’ couple of the last 10 years.” (I’m personally offended on behalf of Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici, but it’s fine.) Still, what’s the point? “The Bachelor” focuses on a journey to love, but a show about a couple just living doesn’t have the same dramatic frisson. Sure, we had Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey on “Newlyweds,” but that was Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, and the biggest draw of the show might still have been catching Simpson asking whether tuna was fish or chicken ... you know, of the sea.


But maybe Freeform is on to something. Maybe we actually love boring TV. Just look at the reality we’re already watching.


“Say Yes to the Dress,” for example, features ordinary women, and a few celebrities, picking out their wedding dresses at New York bridal boutique Kleinfeld. It’s a mind-numbing concept with few twists -- most of which are themselves fairly dull, like a bride who’s struggled with body image issues or whose decadent tastes outstrip her family’s budget. Yet it’s now in its 14th season and has spawned spinoffs including “Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids” and “Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta.”  


Forget “Bridezillas”; this low-drama wedding planning arena is where reality TV flourishes right now. Shows like “My Fair Wedding With David Tutera,” “Four Weddings,” and “Keasha’s Perfect Dress” mine a little bit of relational and familial friction for the conflict needed to feebly roll the episode forward. But basically, these shows are boring.





That’s not to pick on bridal shows. MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” and real estate shows like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” traffic in the same no-plot spectacle. Even a show like “Sister Wives,” which boasts a dramatic-sounding concept (a polygamous family) but mostly depicts the housekeeping and logistical aspects of keeping a four-wife family running, seems too boring to be so gripping. But we watch.


If they’re not selling us a story, these reality shows still have to sell us something. Typically it’s stuff, or experiences, that we crave; clothes and homes we can’t afford to even window-shop for, a picture-perfect romance that can seem impossible to find on Tinder, a truly pimped-out ride. It’s basically consumption porn, giving viewers a chance to marinate in the fantasy that satiation can be found after some relatively small or contrived obstacles have been dispatched with.


This message soothes us, especially coupled with softly lit montages of everyday women trying on multi-thousand-dollar bridal gowns, man caves with built-in plasma screens, and casually well-dressed, skinny couples decorating nurseries for their first tykes. The aesthetic indulgence resembles that of QVC, without the risk that you’ll wake up in the morning with a headache and the vague, foreboding sense that you’re going to have $400 worth of gold-tone clip-on earrings delivered to your home in five to seven business days.


Even the lack of drama itself can be soothing, making it a breeze for viewers to gulp down episode after episode of twist-free, plot-free, low-energy programming, a gentle immersion in a shinier, happier version of our lives.


When it comes to Ben and Lauren, it remains to be seen whether people will actually watch “Happily Ever After” -- my “Bachelor” fan coworkers and I all shared the admission that we expected it to be a snooze. “I’ll probably watch it on Hulu,” offered one. It won’t be event TV like “The Bachelor,” that is.


Neither is “Say Yes to the Dress,” but people are watching -- enough for the shows to continue getting made. If enough of us binge-watch “Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After” on Hulu or our DVR, or comfortably doze through a marathon on Freeform some Sunday afternoon, that might be all it takes.


Follow Claire Fallon on Twitter: @ClaireEFallon






-- 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.

‘Dear Brock Turner’ Photo Series Gives A Voice To Silenced Rape Victim

0
0

A new photo series is reminding survivors of sexual assault that it is never their fault. 


The series titled "Dear Brock Turner" was created by photographer Yana Mazurkevich for the sexual assault awareness media platform Current Solutions. The project features images of six women holding signs that read phrases survivors of sexual assault and rape often hear such as, "You shouldn't have been walking alone," and "You should have expected this to happen." 


Each phrase is written from the perspective of a victim -- highlighting how survivors often blame themselves because society too often conditions women to believe they are responsible for their own assault. This sense of guilt and shame forces many survivors to stay silent about their assaults, ultimately choosing not to seek help or justice.  


Although nearly one in five women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, only one out of every three assaults are reported. 



"Victim-blaming isn’t just some side effect of sexual assault. It’s a harmful, painful reality that perpetuates the culture we live in today which has allowed this issue to be so taboo, yet so prevalent," a spokesperson for the Current Solutions team told The Huffington Post. "Sexual assault is already such an under-reported crime, but victim blaming makes it even harder for survivors to come forward."



Victim-blaming isn’t just some side effect of sexual assault. It’s a harmful, painful reality that perpetuates the culture we live in today.
Spokesperson for the Current Solutions team


The series is a powerful response to the recent Stanford sexual assault case in which former Stanford student Brock Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman. Although Turner was convicted on three felony sexual assault charges and was facing up to 14 years in prison, the 22-year-old was sentenced to only six months in county jail with three years probation. 


Some pointed to letters from Turner’s family and friends to the judge residing over the case, as the reason for the 21-year-old’s lenient sentence. Many of the letters, including ones from Turner's father's and childhood friend, blamed alcohol and the victim -- not Turner -- for the sexual assault. 


Beneath each image is a quote from the powerful letter written by Turner's victims that captured the attention of politicians, news anchors and people around the world for a few weeks ago. The survivor's letter, which was read aloud in court to Turner, is a powerful commentary on sexual assault and rape culture.


Mazurkevich told HuffPost that she was inspired to create the series because she was sexually assaulted during her freshman year of college. "It hit me like a ton of bricks that I was now part of the statistics: I was now the one in four women to get assaulted," she said. "What’s scary is that I personally know friends who have been assaulted, and they know friends who have. That's what is gut-wrenching -- it's so real and no one really realizes." 


The images of women holding victim-blaming phrases paired with Turner's victim's heart-wrenching quotes give readers a glimpse at what so many sexual assault survivors go through.


As the Current Solutions spokesperson said: "If we can impact just one person by telling these stories, by putting faces to the statistics, then we will have achieved our mission."


Scroll below to see the full "Dear Brock Turner" photo series. 



Head to Current Solutions' homepage or Facebook page to learn more about their 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.

Intimate Photos Help Mom Regain Body Confidence After Having 3 Kids In 1 Year

0
0

After giving birth to three children in one year, a Canadian mom decided to embrace her postpartum body with a sensual and empowering photo shoot. 


Melanie Varney and her husband, Gabby, welcomed their first child, a son, on March 11, 2013. Just 364 days later, the mom delivered twin daughters on March 10, 2014. Having children altered her body in ways she struggled to accept.


"Once the twins were born my confidence in my image was gone," Varney told The Huffington Post. "I was on top of the world with what my body had just produced, but the reflection of myself in the mirror was that of a stranger. "


When she saw that photographer Trina Cary posted a model callout for an "intimate" couples session in a lake, Varney decided take a leap and volunteered to participate with her husband.



Cary already knew Varney, as she had photographed products for her decorative arts company, West Coast Karma. The photographer said she was pleased the mom volunteered for the session, as her story and struggle aligned with the project's mission to promote body acceptance after change.


For Varney, the goal was to learn to love her body again after losing her confidence. "Becoming a mother was the best thing I have ever done. It's all I ever wanted to do," Varney told HuffPost, explaining that she and her husband struggled to conceive for a year and suffered two heartbreaking losses in the process. 


But after welcoming a healthy baby boy and then unexpectedly becoming pregnant with twins just three months later, the mom said her postpartum body image was far from her mind. "It was all about survival and preparing for a very busy time," she recalled. 



Still, when she did look at her body, she did not feel comfortable. "I remember googling 'twin moms postpartum' just trying to find similarities in my body to theirs," Varney said. "Of course, as mothers, we all agree that our babies are completely worth the skin, the stretches, and the lumps and bumps, but just as we are mothers, we are still ourselves," she added. "I was still Mel. I still needed to feel happy with 'Mel,' not just 'mom.'"


For the photo shoot with Cary, Varney and her husband agreed to "bare all" and pose with each other in various states of undress. "Lately I have been inspired by nudity because its raw, vulnerable and empowering," Cary told HuffPost. "I want to teach women and men how to be confident again. You don't have to be perfect in every way to be beautiful, you just have to own your flaws and embrace your differences."


Varney described the process as taking off her "mask" and confronting what was really there. "I wasn't able to choose the angles, suck in my tummy or filter over my bits. I felt vulnerable, but at the same time empowered," she said.



Reaching this state of acceptance was still a bit of a struggle for the new mom. "I didn't have much time to think about the way I looked (most days didn't have time to shower before my husband arrived home from work), but it was during intimate moments with Gabby that I began feeling insecure or comparing myself to mental images I thought I should look like," she said, emphasizing that it was her insecurities, not her husband, that made her feel this way. 


"Feeling sexy means different things to different people. I wanted to see myself the way my husband saw me," Varney added.


This feeling was precisely what Cary wanted to capture in her photos -- the mom's changing body and her changing relationship with her husband, but also the enduring love the pair have for each other.


"I wanted to highlight the way he sees her and thinks she is still as beautiful as she was when he first met her," the photographer said. "Also the acceptance she has now for her body with all of its new stretch marks, extra skin and wrinkles. She is beautiful and finally feels that way again, and [she] is proud to share that feeling with everyone else." 



Varney's children also inspire her to adopt a healthier view on body image. 


"I really want to raise my kids with a different view on beauty, self esteem and self portrayal," she told HuffPost. "Self worth has nothing to do with the way you look. I want both my daughters and my son to focus on what really matters -- humanity, kindness, acceptance, etc. I have made a conscious effort in my parenting to not comment on looks, rather compliment other aspects of their amazing little selves."


As for Gabby, he was excited to participate in the photo shoot because he's a fan of Cary's art. But he was surprised to find how much it empowered him as well.


"I think initially he did it thinking it would be something that would help me, but he told me the day after the photos were released that he thinks he may have gotten just as much out of the shoot as I did," Varney said, adding that men feel pressure to meet certain aesthetic ideals as well. 


The photographer echoed this sentiment. "Dudeoirs seem to be a bit of a joke in the media, but the truth is that men have confidence issues as well," she said. "They also worry about how other people, and especially their partners, view them."



Varney said the response to the photos on social media has been "humbling," adding that many women messaged her to say the images moved them to tears.


Still, others "missed the whole point of the pictures," she noted. "Our society seems to have hyper-sexualized naked bodies and associate an unclothed body with porn or something distasteful. It's a body -- we all have them, let's celebrate differences in ourselves and each other!"


The mom hopes the photos will inspire others, even if just one person or couple. "Having multiple children can take a huge toll on a relationship," she said. "Gabby and I drifted, but we never lost sight of our love."


"I hope that this can serve as a reminder for someone out there to take a little bit of time on their relationship," she added. "Sure they might not choose to get naked in a lake for a photoshoot, but maybe enjoy an ice cream on the back deck together and give each other some thoughtful compliments." Varney also said that she and her husband imagine themselves "giggling" together over the intimate photos when they're in their 70s.


Ultimately, the photographer wants viewers to embrace their own imperfections. "I hope people will see a strong, beautiful mother, who has chosen to love and cherish her body's flaws, and a husband, who is still in awe of her," said Cary.


She added that these sessions are meant for any and all women, no matter their size or appearance. She issued the following call: "Love yourself, stop beating yourself up in the mirror, accept the new you and walk with confidence."


The photos below may be considered NSFW. To see more of Cary's work, visit her website, Instagram and Facebook page.



H/T BabyCenter

-- 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.

America Ferrera On The One Thing White Male Actors Never Have To Worry About

0
0

America Ferrera knows first hand how limiting it is to work in an industry that offers so little representation for people of color and women, and she's tired of it.


"As an actor of color, I really, every now and then, would love the freedom to play a character that doesn't have to represent every single Latina out there,” the 32-year-old star told Entertainment Tonight Online Wednesday. "That's not a freedom, as actors of color, we feel the right to take because there is so much pressure on every single role that does represent people of color or women that we put a burden on those roles to say something or to represent us or to stand for us.”


The star's groundbreaking lead role as Betty Suarez, a Mexican-American journalist, in ABC's "Ugly Betty" earned her a Golden Globe in 2007, when she became the first Latina actress to do so. And Ferrera successfully returned to primetime television as the smart and coolheaded big box store floor manager, Amy, in NBC's "Superstore" in January. 



But it was her role as a well-meaning Spanish woman with a stereotypically heavy accent, Brigida, in Netflix's original film "Special Correspondents" that prompted ET Online to ask the actress about her thought process when choosing the role. 


In response, Ferrera said she approached the role of Brigida as a way to dive deep into "ridiculous stereotypes" and use the character as a tool to comment on them.  But she added that while she understands audiences need to see actors of color and women portraying non-stereotypical roles, as an artist she'd like more creative freedom to choose any character she'd like. 


“As an audience member, I find myself wanting roles that are female or roles that are women of color to represent a certain thing," Ferrera told ET. "But as an actor, an unequal burden falls upon actors of color to have every role say something and represent something.”


For years, Ferrera has been outspoken on the need for more diversity in the entertainment industry. In May, she wrote a guest op-ed on Deadline.com on the topic and also touched upon the pressure she feels when deciding what roles to take on.


“Diversity is on everyone’s agenda today, but it’s something I’ve had to think about my entire career, because, in a way, it’s like the tax you pay for being a person of color in this industry,” she wrote in her blog. “You don’t get to avoid these questions. It’d be great to go and audition for roles that don’t have to be representative of every Latino person on the planet, but we aren’t always given that freedom. I can’t just play a housekeeper or a drug dealer, no matter how interesting the character might be, because I always have to think about whether I want to play a role that’s perpetuating the same old stereotypes.”

-- 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.

The Tiny Detail You May Have Missed In Da Vinci's Last Supper

0
0

Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" captures the moment that Jesus Christ revealed that one of his friends would betray him, an act that ultimately led to his death. Every inch of this iconic Renaissance image has been studied by art historians and by conspiracy theorists who are interested in identifying the disciples seated around the table.


But there's another question that some scholars have been investigating: What was on the menu? 


In a BBC Radio broadcast that aired on June 14, food writer Stefan Gates traveled to Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery, where the image is located, to take a look at the meal that the Leonardo painted for Jesus and his disciples. 



Pinin Brambilla, who led the team of experts that cleaned and repainted "The Last Supper" over a period of 20 years, believes the dishes on the table are fish. (Fish was also an important symbol of Jesus in early Christian iconography.)


The late John Varriano, a former professor of art at Mount Holyoke College, had a slightly different theory -- one that reveals more about the society that Leonardo lived in than it does about the meal actually served in the Bible. After examining the plates of food laid out on the table, Varriano claimed the meal included grilled eels garnished with a citrus fruit, most likely sliced lemons or oranges. 


"I thought, how interesting and how contemporary this is," Varriano said in the broadcast. "Because there's absolutely no justification in the Bible for having eel at the Last Supper. Eel is not kosher after all, and this is supposed to be a Passover."



In a 2008 article published in the food studies journal Gastronomica, Varriano explained that eels were popular in Renaissance Italy during Leonardo's time. A recipe for eels, published in a cookbook that Leonardo once had in his library, describes one method of preparing the dish. 



When an eel is captured, skinned and gutted, cut it up into large enough pieces and cook well on a spit near the hearth, with bay leaves and sage placed between the pieces, always moistening the meat with the brine they call salimola. When it is nearly cooked, add some meal or ground bread, sprinkling with cinnamon and salt, encrusting it all around. If you want it boiled, cook thoroughly with parsley, sag, and a few bay leaves and cover with verjuice and pepper.




The Last Supper was actually a popular subject for many Renaissance artists. In other versions of the feast, artists have placed crayfish, roast pork and guinea pig on the table. 


Listen to the BBC Radio 4 podcast to hear more about the meaning behind the food that Leonardo painted for "The Last Supper." 




-- 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.

Viewing all 18485 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images