Quantcast
Channel: Culture & Arts
Viewing all 18483 articles
Browse latest View live

Ballet Dancers Glide Their Way Through NYC — Naked — In Stunning Photos

0
0

Warning: This post contains nudity and may not be appropriate for work environments.



Why walk when you can dance? And why dance when you can dance naked? This seems to be the central question of photographer Jordan Matter’s book Dancers After Darkwhich chronicles dancers from organizations like Alvin Ailey American Dance, Dance Theater of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and many more. 


“I worked on Dancers After Dark exhaustively for two years,” Matter writes in the book’s introduction, “meaning I was exhausted every week! I photographed hundreds of amazing performers in many cities and countries. It was the most rewarding creative experience of my life, and I was truly sorry to see it end.” 



Although Matter photographed dancers all over the world, here we’ve compiled some of our favorite shots that took place in New York City. One such shot, which graces the book’s cover, features Dutch National Ballet dancer Michaela DePrince. After moving from Harlem to Amsterdam, DePrince got in touch with the photographer one evening when she was visiting town, offering to participate in his shoot. 


“We met at 9:00 p.m. at Columbus Circle and started walking east,” Matter wrote of the experience. “Staying true to my process, I was relying on serendipity to guide me. As we passed Seventh Avenue, the red streetlights and illumination from Times Square caught my eye. I thought it might be interesting to photograph Michaela right in the middle on a busy avenue.”


“I was looking for a magic moment,” Matter continued. “Pedestrians were essential, but they had to be just right.” The final shot features DePrince, nude save for a pair of pointe shoes, crossing the street with strength and defiance while an older couple looks on in the background. 


It’s a powerful image, and one that encapsulates the way that dancers just seem to navigate the world a bit differently than the rest of us. 


-- 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.


Should We Value Friend Love More Than Romantic Love?

0
0

Leah does not like to fight. In fact, not fighting is one of the few firm stances she’s able to take in Marcy Dermansky’s new novel The Red Car, a spare and funny story about regaining your footing after coping with grief.


The character will look familiar to fans of Sheila Heti, Vendela Vida or Lena Dunham; she’s an intelligent young woman who’s navigating a budding life of art-making and unfulfilling relationships with men.


Unlike Dunham’s Hannah Hovarth, Leah hasn’t consciously chosen or upheld a life of extended youth and urban ennui. At 33, she’s worked a practical HR job in San Francisco, forged friendships with older coworkers, moved to Louisiana for an MFA program, married an Austrian man whom she met in the program and who needed a green card, and moved with him to Queens, where they both write while working unglamorous day jobs. Still, Leah maintains a romantic outlook on the prospects of the life that lies ahead of her. She’s just finished a novel, and she’s often praised for having married a kind man, even if Hans has a temper only she bears witness to.


But the illusions she holds about the life she’s built burst when she hears that her former boss, Judy, has died in a car accident. The news comes as a shock. Leah had lost touch with Judy, who was at once her coworker, confidant and mentor. Judy used to take her to expensive work lunches, and encouraged Leah to apply to graduate schools for her writing. Leah admired that Judy was creative herself ― she went to school for painting, and continued the pursuit as hobby ― but was uncomfortable with her resignation to life at a desk job. One day, on the way out the door to a work lunch, Judy reveals to Leah that she fulfilled a longtime dream of buying a red sports car.


Judy explains that the car is the nicest thing she’s ever bought for herself, and Leah struggles to reconcile this prideful remark with everything she admires about Judy. She’s divorced, and is feared by her coworkers. She’s hardworking, and self-assured.


“This is it for me,” Judy tells Leah. “This car.”


“That’s not true,” Leah says.


“You’re just a baby,” Judy says. “I forget that sometimes.”


The exchange is reminiscent of one in Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation, a similar, minimalist story. “You’re not allowed to compare your imagined accomplishments to our actual ones,” her heroine thinks. Offill’s observation is about a younger dinner guest who brims with optimism that flirts with arrogance. But it neatly describes how Judy felt about Leah ― that her youthful optimism lead to misguided disrespect for her older, wiser friends.


In what Leah perceives of as a cruel twist, Judy wills her the red car. She has to fly last-minute to San Francisco to fetch it, and to attend the funeral. When she breaks this news to Hans, who’d never heard of her friendship with her former boss, he responds violently. So, the trip winds up being a much-needed breather from her stifling marriage, too.


The physical openness of San Francisco ― relative, at least, to her noisy, crowded Queens apartment ― forces Leah to be more self-sufficient than she’s been in years. Unmoored from the strictures of her detail-oriented job and forced to drive from place to place, she reconsiders her smug approach to life and dating, with Judy’s voice continually interrupting her thoughts, encouraging her to follow her gut during her two-week trip.


Leah’s gut takes her on a ride with a Grateful Dead–loving mechanic, and back to her old apartment, where a lesbian woman with whom she shares a name seduces her. It takes her to Palo Alto, where she meets up with old friends and sees a former classmate ― now an ethical business mogul ― speak about his company. Jonathan Beene and Leah have a fraught history. Their freshman year at Haverford College, Leah was asked to leave after he turned the two of them in for swapping sex for money. The story hits a rare false note when their reconciliation seems to solve all of Leah’s maturity-inhibiting hang-ups. Still, the scene, like all of Dermansky’s, is peopled with convincing characters and taut, powerful sentences.


Leah name-drops Murakami more than once, and it’s easy to see why. The Japanese author says that he translated his first book into English, then back into Japanese, in order to pare it down into simple, meaningful language. The Red Car is a swift and magical read for similar reasons. Dermansky’s declarative language allows the reader to color in her own feelings about nostalgia, about romantic freedom, about youthful ideals and blunt wisdom. 


The bottom line:


Spare, funny and deftly observant of what happens when our repressed emotions reach a violent precipice.


Who wrote it:


Marcy Dermansky is the author of Twins and Bad Marie.


Who will read it:


Anyone interested in coming-of-age stories, stories about female friendship, and spare, powerful writing.


What other reviewers think:


Elle: “If you want to fall in love with a book almost at first sight (i.e., paragraph four)...”


Kirkus: “Dermansky delivers a captivating novel about the pursuit of joy that combines dreamlike logic with dark humor, wry observation, and gritty feminism.”


Opening lines:


It was a surprise to open The New York Times in my parents’ kitchen and see a picture of Jonathan Beene. He had won an award for business innovation. They give awards like that. 


Notable passage


“Not running,” I said. Or maybe it was running. “So what?” I said.


I had always admired people who went running. Runners. People who ran marathons. People who could run two miles. Even that seemed impossible. They seemed like better people than I was. 


“I am not judging,” Judy said.


But she had been judging me all along.


The Red CarMarcy Dermansky
$24.95, Liveright
Published Oct. 11


The Bottom Line is a weekly review combining plot description and analysis with fun tidbits about the book.

-- 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.

All The Perks Of Accusing A Man Like Donald Trump Of Sexual Assault

0
0

In the last six days, eight women have come forward accusing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual assault. This brings the total number of sexual assault accusations against the nominee to 13, with many more accusations of harassment, sexual misconduct and general creepiness.


From the way some of Trump’s surrogates ― and Trump himself ― have been talking, you’d think being an alleged victim of sexual assault was just a fun way to get rich quick and skyrocket yourself to fame and fortune! So we decided to investigate.


Below are a sampling of the awesome things that happen when you accuse a powerful man like Donald Trump of sexual assault:



So fun! So cool! So many perks! 





Scroll below to see a timeline of the sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump...




Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly
incites
political violence
and is a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326"> style="font-weight: 400;">serial liar, href="http://www.huffingtonpost
.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b"> style="font-weight: 400;">rampant xenophobe,
racist, style="font-weight: 400;">misogynist and href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stephen-colbert-birther_56022a33e4b00310edf92f7a"> >birther who has
repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from
entering the U.S.

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

Aziz Ansari Is Baffled By People Who Are Still On The Fence About Voting

0
0



Every election cycle, a bunch of famous people get in front of the camera to implore Americans around the country to get out there this November and make their voices heard. 


To be frank, the routine is all a little silly if you think about it. After all, what kind of person doesn’t consider voting until a famous person asks them to via a scripted video that was probably pushed on them by their publicist anyway?


That was essentially the message professional funnyman Aziz Ansari wanted to get across while he taped his own version of the get-out-and-vote video, which was uploaded to YouTube on Monday by the climate change advocacy group NextGen Climate.


“I’m here because apparently there’s someone watching this video that’s on the fence about voting, and they’re going to see me telling them to vote and then they’re going to be like ‘OK, I guess I’ll vote,’” Ansari says in the video, before it cuts to him adding, “What the f**k do you need?


“There’s a f**king guy running that says he hates brown people. That’s not enough?” the comedian asks in disbelief. “He doesn’t believe in climate change! Do you realize how dumb you have to be to not believe in climate change at this point?”


NetGen Climate’s PSAs are going to run digitally in swing states like Pennsylvania in the final days leading up to the election on Nov. 8, according to Entertainment Weekly. Who knows if they’ll make a difference.


Stay informed with the latest news and video. Download HuffPost’s news app on iOS or Android.

-- 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.

Watch Women Explain Why Trump’s Comments Are More Than 'Just Words'

0
0

“I was trying to push him away.”


“He tried to make me touch him.”


“He tried to put his hands by my vagina.”


These are just a few snippets from the powerful stories of assault women describe in a new video produced by progressive social media campaign Humanity For Hillary. The pro-Clinton campaign created the video, titled “It’s Not OK,” in response to Donald Trump’s recently resurfaced hot mic comments and the accusations of sexual assault the GOP nominee faces from more than a dozen women.  


The video features dozens of women, including celebrities like Rose McGowan and Amber Tamblyn, describing a time they were sexually harassed or assaulted by men. Each woman has a story of verbal harassment to go along with the sexual assault she’s experienced.


Their riveting testimonies remind viewers that Trump’s “locker room banter” is anything but “just words.” 


Warning: Stories in the below video may be triggering to some readers. 





“I think people like Donald Trump will never understand the correlation that women understand between words and actions,” Tamblyn ― who’s been an outspoken advocate for sexual assault survivors ― says. “Especially when you’re a man in a position of power and you talk that way publicly and you say those things. You are telling the world, you are telling everyone, that it’s OK to behave that way.” 


As one woman says in the video in response to Trump’s “grab ‘em by the pussy” comments: “It’s not ‘just words,’ it happens every day. It’s happened to me more times than I can count.”  


Liz Garbus, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker who directed “It’s Not OK,” explained in a press release why featuring these women’s voices is so important.


“After the release of the Trump Access Hollywood tapes, I felt it was important to share the OTHER side of the story ― stories of women being objectified, kissed, groped, and humiliated by the words and actions of others. These words and actions have a huge effect on women’s lives. And we are here to say, together, in one loud voice, that this is NOT OKAY.”


As another young woman in the video asked: “You’re taking about harassing us, like that’s OK?” 





Spoiler alert: It’s not ― and many American women won’t stand for it.





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

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

-- 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 Simple Way Instagram Is Combating Self-Harm And Body Image Issues

0
0

Got that "loving myself regardless of societies high standards" glow #perfectlyme

A photo posted by Ugochi Egonu (@ugochiegonu) on




Instagram’s safe spaces just got a little safer.


#PerfectlyMe, a new Instagram initiative launched on Monday in partnership with Seventeen Magazine, celebrates the strength and diversity of communities that have formed on the platform since 2010.


Instagram (along with other social media platforms, like Tumblr and Twitter) has become a space for both organized and individual self-expression. Communities that focus on issues like body image, eating disorder awareness and mental health have flourished on the platform. Now Instagram wants to keep these spaces intact (and arguably make them even more meaningful and effective) by identifying people who need help beyond a positive hashtag.


The platform has created new tools to identify such users and connect them with the appropriate resources. For example, Instagram is launching a support button, which will pop up when a user searchers hashtags or terms that are associated with self-harm. If a user indicates that they need further support, she or he will be connected to specific helplines, tip pages and even other friends on Instagram.



Growing up, Jody Heakes (@jdoday) was frequently bullied about her weight. “I remember (now cringingly), in middle school dumbing myself down, pretending not to know things, because I’d decided that I would much rather be labeled as ‘the stupid girl’ than ‘the fat girl,’” says the 21-year-old. “Today, I pride myself on being a thoughtful and intelligent woman.” Jody was interested in photography, but it wasn’t until she graduated from high school that her mother encouraged her to model. “I was always behind the camera, never in front,” Jody says. “Switching roles and seeing photos of myself made me realize that I wasn’t as unattractive as I felt.” Her participation in the body-positive movement online feels like an extension of her studies at the University of Toronto — she’s a fourth-year student in history and equity studies. “I strongly believe that representation matters, and not only representation of different body types, but different ethnicities, ages and abilities,” Jody says. “Confidence comes with time. It has taken me over five years to reach the level of acceptance with myself that I have now. I can only imagine how much better I’ll feel five years from now.” Who or what inspires you to feel #PerfectlyMe? This month, we’ve teamed up with @seventeen to celebrate people who are redefining body standards and inspiring confidence on Instagram. Use the hashtag to share your story. Photo by @jdoday

A photo posted by Instagram (@instagram) on




If users search terms related directly to self-harm or suicide, they will be redirected to a help page. Additionally, if a friend notices a concerning post, they can anonymously report it to Instagram. The person who posted the flagged content will receive this message: “Someone saw one of your posts and thinks you might be going through a difficult time. If you need support, we’d like to help.” That user can then choose to be directed to a help page or “skip” the message. 


Instagram will have teams working 24 hours a day to review these reports in order to prioritize and respond as quickly as possible.


Below is what a user will see if a friend flags a posts as concerning.



Below is what a user will see if she/he searches a hashtag or term related to self-harm.



In addition to launching these tools, as part of their partnership with Seventeen, Instagram hopes to actively promote positive body image and self-love using the hashtag #PerfectlyMe. Users can post photos of themselves with the hashtag to show their support for body positivity and self-confidence.


COO of Instagram, Marne Levine, explained to The Huffington Post why this initiative is so important to young women specifically.


“Young women and teens, especially, have so many incredible stories to tell,” she said. “We want to make it easier for them to do that and to build a platform where they are surrounded by a community that celebrates and supports them.”


Levine added that keeping the platform ― and the communities that have formed on it ― safe and positive is one of the most important goals for Instagram. 


“Instagram is where people go to tell their visual stories,” Levine said. “It is important that they feel safe and comfortable and have control over what they share. When people are able to be open and honest, they can find incredible communities of support on the platform.”


Scroll below to see a few #PerfectlyMe images.


















Head over to Instagram to see more images from the #PerfectlyMe hashtag.


If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

-- 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.

Trump Called This Woman A Liar. Then 6 Witnesses Corroborated Her Story.

0
0

On Oct. 12, former People writer Natasha Stoynoff wrote a powerful essay accusing Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in 2005 during an interview at his Mar-a-Lago vacation home. Trump has since vehemently denied the accusations and even questioned Stoynoff’s story during a campaign rally by saying, “Look at her ... I don’t think so.”


On Tuesday, People published a report featuring six people who the outlet says can corroborate Stoynoff’s story. Included are two of Stoynoff’s longtime friends and three coworkers.  


In her original People essay, Stoynoff wrote that she was interviewing the Trumps at their Mar-a-Lago resort. During a break, Melania Trump stepped away to change clothes, Stoynoff wrote. Donald Trump, the essay continued, took her into a room alone and told her: “You know we’re going to have an affair, don’t you?”


“We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat,” she wrote.


At the end of her essay, Stoynoff wrote that a few months after the alleged attack she ran into Melania on Fifth Avenue. 


“That winter, I actually bumped into Melania on Fifth Avenue, in front of Trump Tower as she walked into the building, carrying baby Barron,” Stoynoff wrote. “’Natasha, why don’t we see you anymore?” [Melania] asked, giving me a hug. I was quiet and smiled, telling her I’d missed her, and I squeezed little Barron’s foot. I couldn’t discern what she knew. Did she really not guess why I hadn’t been around?”


Melania has denied this took place, both in a letter from her lawyer to People, and during an interview with Anderson Cooper which aired on Monday night. 


“I was never friends with her, I would not recognize her,” Melania told Cooper. 


One of the witnesses People interviewed was Liza Herz, Stoynoff’s friend from college who said she was there when Stoynoff ran into Melania Trump that day. 


“They chatted in a friendly way,” Herz told People. “And what struck me most was that Melania was carrying a child and wearing heels.” 


Five other witnesses spoke to People, including friends and coworkers of Stoynoff’s who said she spoke to them about the incident both the day of the alleged attack and after she returned from Mar-a-Lago.


Stoynoff’s former journalism professor Paul McLaughlin ― who also tweeted about the incident on the 13th ― told People that she called him crying the night the attack took place. “She wasn’t sure what she should do,” McLaughlin told People. “I advised her not to say anything, because I believed Trump would deny it and try to destroy her.”


And denied it he has. As Stoynoff told People: “It’s possible [Trump] just doesn’t remember it. It was over 10 years ago and I assume I am one of many, many women.”


Head over to People to read their comprehensive report about Stoynoff’s story and these six witnesses. 


CLARIFICATION: This article has been edited to make clear that Stoynoff wrote that Donald Trump took her into a room alone while Melania Trump was elsewhere changing clothes.




Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly
incites
political violence
and is a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326"> style="font-weight: 400;">serial liar, href="http://www.huffingtonpost
.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b"> style="font-weight: 400;">rampant xenophobe,
racist, style="font-weight: 400;">misogynist and href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stephen-colbert-birther_56022a33e4b00310edf92f7a"> >birther who has
repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from
entering the U.S.

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

20 Dazzling Photos Of A Bizarre World You Need A Microscope To See

0
0

A spectacular “zebrafish selfie” has been awarded first place in the 2016 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, the camera maker announced today. The annual contest showcases “the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope,” according to Nikon’s website.


The winning image, chosen from among more than 2,000 entries from 70 countries, shows an extreme close-up of the odd and rather cartoonish face of a four-day-old zebrafish embryo. It was taken by Dr. Oscar Ruiz of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.


Ruiz uses zebrafish to study genetic mutations that lead to cleft lip and other facial abnormalities in humans.


“Defining the specific cellular behaviors that drive facial abnormalities will provide greater understanding of how we can prevent or repair these defects,” Ruiz told The Huffington Post. “My hope is that this image helps to convey the artistic side of science and presents our data in a way most people can relate to.”


Ruiz’s photo was among 96 winning pics honored this year in the annual contest. Scroll down to see the top 20.


-- 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.


For This Country Singer, Only An Authentic Life Is Worth Singing About

0
0



Brandon Stansell may not be country music’s first openly gay performer, but his new video still feels like a subversive act in a genre so rooted in Americana. 


Released Oct. 3, “Slow Down” sees the handsome singer-songwriter joining a male love interest for a drive through a desert in a battered pick-up truck. The pair share an awkward embrace by a campfire before joining hands in the daylight. 


In the song, which Stansell co-wrote with Los Angeles-based producer Mylen, the 29-year-old advises a prospective lover to proceed with caution. “I’m thinking we could slow down, take all the time you need on me,” he croons. “Baby, slow down/’Cause you and I together, we don’t have to be in a rush to fall in love.” 


Stansell, who originally hails from Tennessee, told The Huffington Post that the song is “about holding on to those initial feelings of attraction without overcomplicating them.” 


“So many times, people get wrapped up making sure that everything makes sense that they forget to enjoy the person that is right in front of them,” he said, noting that the tune was partly inspired by a recent dating experience. “My goal is to share my experiences and life in an authentic way. I just happen to be gay, so that aspect of my life naturally is reflected in my art,” he said.  



The song, which is also the title track of Stansell’s new, three-song EP, features backing vocals from country artist Ty Herndon, who came out as gay in 2014. The significance of Herndon’s presence on the album isn’t lost on Stansell, who called the “What Matters Most” singer a personal inspiration.


“In so many ways, he paved the way for artists like myself,” he told HuffPost. “So having him sing on the record was not only an honor for me, but also my way of saying thank you and acknowledging him for being the leader in this world I am stepping into.” For his part, Herndon echoed that praise. “I’m so happy to be a part of this talented man’s journey,” he said. 


Naming Years & Years, Dolly Parton and Tracy Chapman as artistic influences, Stansell described his sound as “California country,” and said his music is just as reflective of his current home in Los Angeles as it is by his Nashville roots. While the roster of openly gay country artists continues to grow, the singer hopes his work is an “honest reflection” of his life that all listeners can identify with. 


“I write songs about love, loss, hope and heartbreak ― human feelings I think everyone can relate to,” he said. “So it’s not an issue of being relatable, it’s an issue of being genuine and present.” 

-- 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.

Beautiful 5-Minute Film Uses A Piñata To Prove Love Trumps Hate

0
0



Nothing is greater than a mother’s love, not even her hatred for Donald Trump.


British writer and director Sarah Clift’s award-winning short film “La Buena Madre (The Good Mother)” focuses on a Mexican mother who must choose between her political ideals and giving her son his one and only birthday wish, a Trump piñata.


The short doesn’t shy away from showing contempt against the GOP presidential nominee. When the mother finds out her son wants a Trump piñata at his birthday party, she immediately refuses his request. 


“No, that man won’t enter my house,” she tells her husband. “Where did he get that idea? Trump is the devil.” But it doesn’t take long for the mother to change her mind once she sees how important it is to her son.


In a statement on the film’s website, Clift noted that one of the things she hoped to capture in her short was the love and strength that exist within families in Mexico. 


“I wanted to create a piece of work that showcased strong women, family unity and the beauty and faith of the Mexican people I have had the pleasure to meet,” Clift writes in a statement on the short film’s website. “Humour has always played a strong part in all of my work and seemed a wonderful opportunity to use in creating a simple story about the lengths a mother will go to for her child.”


Watch the full short above.  


H/T Remezcla  


Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly
incites
political violence
and is a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326"> style="font-weight: 400;">serial liar, href="http://www.huffingtonpost
.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b"> style="font-weight: 400;">rampant xenophobe,
racist, style="font-weight: 400;">misogynist and href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stephen-colbert-birther_56022a33e4b00310edf92f7a"> >birther who has
repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from
entering the U.S.

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

Trump Protester Paints Grabby Donald With Her Privates

0
0

Donald Trump’s disgusting “grab them by the pussy” comments continue to spur outrage and inspire protest.


A Montreal artist is giving the Donald the bum’s rush by painting portraits of him with her vagina.


The Canadian woman, who identifies herself as “Davison,” is not eligible to vote in the U.S. presidential election, but says the possibility of a Trump presidency is a global problem.


“Trump is a threat to destabilize the world,” Davison told HuffPost. “But the pussy comment was the final straw for many people, though I wonder why people didn’t have the same reaction to his wall or Islamophobia.” 


Trump’s now famous comments inspired Davison to paint his portrait using the same body part that the Republican standard bearer denigrates.


“Once I saw the backlash, I thought, ‘How can I turn this into a positive?’” she said.


Creating what she bluntly calls her “pussy paintings” presented some challenges, mostly when buying supplies.


“I had to put the canvas between my legs at the art store to make sure it would fit,” Davison said. As for the paint, she made sure to use Crayola acrylic paint which she says “has no cyanide.” 


Take a look at Davison at work. The camera is strategically placed so you can’t actually see her “brush” meet the canvas.





Davison’s trumped-up portraits are impressionistic, to say the least. The orange blobs represent Trump’s face and the red represents his ubiquitous power tie.


“I tried to put my butt right where his mouth would be,” she said.


Davison now hopes she can use her Trump portraits to raise funds for charity.


She is currently auctioning off two different pieces at 32auctions.com and plans to donate half the funds to ovarian cancer research.


The auction ends Oct. 31 and one of the works currently has a bid of $20.


This isn’t the first time Davison attacked Trump with her sex organs. Last March, she painted a portrait of him using her breasts.


“That’s because he’s the world’s biggest boob,” she explained.


That opus can be seen below.





Davison isn't the only woman using her private parts to speak publicly against Trump.


Last week, Florida photographer Emily Robinson donated some pubic hair clippings to Trump’s campaign because he “represents everything that females hate about existing in life as a woman.”


Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly
incites
political violence
and is a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326"> style="font-weight: 400;">serial liar, href="http://www.huffingtonpost
.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b"> style="font-weight: 400;">rampant xenophobe,
racist, style="font-weight: 400;">misogynist and href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stephen-colbert-birther_56022a33e4b00310edf92f7a"> >birther who has
repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from
entering the U.S.

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

Le Tigre Reunites In Full Pantsuit Glory To Deliver A Pro-Hillary Anthem

0
0



As a nation, we may never discover who took the bomp from the bompalompalomp, but we do know for sure that Le Tigre is definitively #WithHer.


The electroclash group reunited for their first song in over a decade to tell the world “I’m With Her,” Pitchfork revealed Wednesday. In the video, Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and JD Samson dance and sing in colorful jumpsuits, interspersed with images of a cat and Hillary supporters. The lyrics boldly shout about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s preparedness, her historic disinterest in making cookies, and her opponent “fascist bottom feeder” Donald Trump’s wall-building plans.


Some of the lyrics include lines like, “Abortion is healthcare, it’s a human right / Policy homework till the morning light / NRA stands for murder and hate / Gun laws now! We can’t wait!”


Reaction to the song on social media has been mixed, with some criticizing Le Tigre for aligning themselves with a mainstream candidate, or simply not feeling the tunes.














Hanna revealed earlier this month that the group, first formed in 1998, would reunite to make one more song in an interview with Meredith Graves for “The Talkhouse” podcast.


Hanna has made her political beliefs known before, including speaking at a women’s health rally in 2011 after a proposed cut to Planned Parenthood funds threatened the organization’s ability to provide education and health care such as STD testing and pregnancy tests.

-- 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.

New Tolkien Book Will Tell The Sweetest, Most Middle Earth Love Story Of All Time

0
0

Some loves simply can’t be quenched with the passage of time. This author stands as a particular testament to that fact ― no, not Nicholas Sparks, sorry!


In May 2017, J.R.R. Tolkien’s legend of the romance between Beren, a man, and Lúthien, an elf, will be published as a standalone volume ― 100 years after Tolkien originally penned the tale. 







The story, if you’re not familiar, is bittersweet: Lúthien’s father opposed the match, and set Beren on an impossible quest to fulfill before allowing the two to marry: stealing back a Silmaril, a precious Elvish jewel, from their great enemy, Morgoth. More than her father’s disapproval stood in their way, however; the dangers of the quest threatened his life, and her elvish immortality stood to separate her from her mortal beloved for eternity.  


The union between the two marked one of just a handful of couplings between men and elves that created the half-elven. Arwen, the ethereal half-elven beloved of Aragorn, was herself a descendent of Lúthien, and faced her own barriers to marrying a mortal man. 


The love story clearly held deep meaning for Tolkien. “Beren” and “Lúthien” are engraved on the headstone under which he and his wife, Edith, were buried. “I never called Edith Lúthien ― but she was the source of the story,” he told their son, Christopher, in a letter after Edith’s death.



Christopher Tolkien is the editor of the new book, which will be published in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Beren and Lúthien will resurface and compile retellings of the legend from his father’s writings, according to the publisher. Tolkien rewrote the legend in various forms, including the unfinished “Lay of Leithien,” which was published posthumously, and a prose chapter in The Silmarillion.


Tolkien fandom being the force that it is, it’s little surprise that new books have continued to arise from his body of work decades after his death in 1973. Beren and Lúthien will be released on the 10th anniversary of the last Middle Earth book edited for publication by Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Húrin. Other Tolkien works shined up for bookshelves in recent years have included previously unpublished, non-LOTR-related writings such as The Story of Kullervo, which is based on a Finnish legend.


H/T The Guardian

-- 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.

In The Eerie 'Always Shine' Trailer, Actresses' Resentment Becomes Psychological Turmoil

0
0

Resentment can eat at your soul, if “Always Shine” has anything to say about it. The twisty new psychological thriller ― a prizewinner at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival ― revolves around two actresses whose friendship suffers as one (Caitlin FitzGerald) finds a level of success that the other (Mackenzie Davis) cannot. When the pair retreats to Big Sur for a quick getaway, their inner turmoil implodes in a series of destructive confrontations. 


The first trailer for “Always Shine” debuted on Wednesday. In the vein of “Persona” and “Queen of Earth,” Sophia Takal’s film is a psychodrama of the highest order, elevating the struggles of two women plagued by men’s conventional notions of femininity. The movie opens Dec. 2.




-- 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.

Sorry, But All Your Favorite Love Stories Are Ruining Your Love Life

0
0



Well isn’t this ironic: The love stories we read and watch are screwing up our actual love lives. 


In a new video from the The School of Life, acclaimed philosopher Alain de Botton explains how romantic novels and films warp our expectations about love and relationships. More often than not, the plots focus on how the protagonists fall in love rather than how they sustain their love. 


“A wiser kind of love story would know that the real problem isn’t finding a partner, it’s tolerating them and being tolerated over time,” he explains. “It should appreciate that the start of relationships is not the high point that romantic culture assumes; it’s merely the first step of a far longer, more ambivalent yet quietly far more heroic journey.” 


Watch the clip for more of de Botton’s take on the damage romantic films and books do to real couples. 





type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Stories + articlesList=57c9ba5ee4b078581f12e20c,579107e8e4b0fc06ec5c19b3,57ed7394e4b095bd896a0915

-- 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.


Why This Working Mom Covered Herself In Breast Milk Bags

0
0

After artist and educator Kasey Jones gave birth to her second child, she struggled emotionally and physically in her transition back into the workforce. 


To help other moms feel less alone, the interdisciplinary artist explored the many challenges she faced in a photo series she calls “Working Mother Suit.”


“In the wee hours of the morning as I would pump, sleep deprived, preparing to teach to over 100 students, I felt alone,” Jones told The Huffington Post.



The series features photos of Jones in an office environment wearing a “suit” made of over 150 breast milk storage bags. 


Jones said she created “Working Mother Suit” to raise awareness of the “harsh realities” of being a new mom in the workforce. “Our system does not support new mothers or families during this transitional phase,” she said, noting that the postpartum return to work can be taxing on a mom’s physical and mental health. Breastfeeding was one particularly challenging aspect for the artist.


“When you breastfeed, you are food on demand,” Jones explained. “You are up all night producing milk and feeding your baby. You wake up earlier than your shift starts to pump so that baby has enough food while you are gone. You go to work sleep deprived, not 100 percent, you work, you pump, you work, you pump. Then you come home and do it all over again.”



On top of the challenges that come with the act of nursing and pumping, there may be additional workplace issues for breastfeeding moms, the artist said.


“When you ask for a clean and comfortable place to pump, you often get looks of annoyance and judgment,” she said. “You are also expected to combine your breaks, lunch, and pump time all into the same fraction of time. You are not given adequate time which can cause stress and anxiety to ‘perform’ within the 15-30 minutes you’ve been allotted.”


The artist pointed to the obstacles many working moms must overcome in their careers, from the gender pay gap and lack of paid maternity leave, to sleep deprivation from caring for a baby, to judgment from co-workers for needing “special treatment” like pumping breaks and feeling penalized for taking time off.


Jones, whose two daughters are 17 months old and six, works as a visual arts teacher and volleyball coach at a small junior college in southeast Ohio. When she had her first child, she was managing an after-school program at a rural elementary school and went back to work part-time three months after giving birth. With her second child, she had to return to work full-time for a commissioned sculpture project when her baby was only 4 weeks old.



It was after she returned to work that second time that she felt inspired to create “Working Mother Suit.” Jones told HuffPost she wanted to help unite working mothers and create a symbol of advocacy for their cause. 


“The more conversation we have about the harsh realities of working and caring for an infant and the lack of support we actually receive, the more something will change,” she said, adding that she believes our society needs to value self-care and wellness as much as it values money. 



How we treat mothers and women in our society reflects what we value the most and what we value the least."



The fact that the U.S. lags behind other developed countries when it comes to paid maternity leave is particularly disturbing to Jones. “How we treat mothers and women in our society reflects what we value the most and what we value the least,” she said. “We do not value the role of women. We do not value the role of the mother.”


Ultimately, Jones wants her series to honor the hard work that pumping moms put into nourishing their children while also earning an income ― particularly because so many women feel they have to stop nursing after returning to work.



“Breastfeeding is work and this laborious task is often diminished by those who have never experienced it,” she said. “I hope that when people look at these images they realize how much we do as mothers. We are the pillars of society. We should be honored and supported more.”


Jones is also calling for better legislation and workplace policies around the issue of maternal support, and she believes actual working mothers should be able to help set these standards. 


Said Jones, “It’s evident that our current situation is taking a toll on the health of mothers and their children. Our society needs to recognize this and take the necessary steps to ensure a safe and supportive environment for American families.”


Keep scrolling and visit Jones’ Instagram to see more of her “Working Mother Suit” series.





-- 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.

Artists Turn Hundreds Of Abandoned Homes Into ‘Living Creatures’

0
0

An abandoned building isn’t just an eyesore ― often, it’s a place that used to be a family’s home. Every night this fall, hundreds of those former homes are coming back to life in neighborhoods across upstate New York.


In the amorphous installation “Breathing Lights,” LED lights shine through the windows of empty houses, waxing and waning to resemble breathing in and out. Adam Frelin, artist and professor at the University of Albany, and Barbara Nelson, architect and executive director of the Troy Architectural Program, Inc., collaborated with dozens of local partners on the exhibition, which lasts through November.



#breathinglights @breathinglightsny

A video posted by @dander_ham on




The sites are scattered throughout New York’s Capital District, in Schenectady, Albany and Troy. Lighting up the buildings gives them an imagined occupancy, Frelin said, and the breathing effect “creates an imagined life.”


“It also anthropomorphizes the building into a living creature of sorts,” he said. “With hundreds of these breathing, it starts to reference this life force that is existing beneath the entire region, coming out of these particular nodes,” he said.


Frelin and Nelson relied on the three cities’ land banks ― organizations that work with local government to manage and redevelop vacant buildings ― to find houses they could use temporarily. There are currently at least 150 houses that are lit, but the number is constantly changing. 



So far, they have worked with almost 400 houses and are continually installing lights in new buildings and removing them in others when they get sudden calls that a house is set to be demolished or has been purchased. Every night, a crew does inventory, and in the morning a tech group does any necessary maintenance and troubleshooting. 


The daily care makes it actually feel like the buildings are alive, Frelin said.


There are more than 2,000 vacant buildings in the Capital District, according to the “Breathing Lights” organizers. Prevalent abandonment can make neighborhoods targets for crime, lower property values, create a cycle of neglect and expose residents to health risks.


 “Abandoned buildings are places of pain and loss,” Frelin said.


type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=56f41be3e4b0c3ef52183d4b,57dfaf6fe4b08cb140968f46

Frelin lives in Troy and has vacant houses in his own neighborhood. But he really confronted the consequences of abandonment while they were installing delicate lighting rigs in run-down houses.


“You see piles of clothes and family photos, you see beautiful places that are now falling, crumbling down,” he said. “I really started to understand the effect of this, having a chance to talk to the neighbors and hearing about how the worth of their home has declined, the character of their neighborhood has changed.”



Frelin said he’s heard from some people who think the money could be put to better use fixing up the buildings, and he knows the houses have more significance for communities than their brief stint as an artist’s canvas. The installation is only one piece of a larger effort.


“Breathing Lights” was one of four winners of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge last year. They’re using their $1 million grant to address vacancy in a variety of ways ― the program includes workshops to teach people about buying and rehabbing abandoned houses, media classes for kids, complementary local art projects and a summit next spring focused on policy issues around vacancy. Frelin and Nelson chose community organizations to act as hubs in each city and hired ambassadors who live in the neighborhoods.



“We spent a year just laying the groundwork and building alliances,” Frelin said, in part to avoid doing something that residents felt was exploitative.


With earlier test runs, they made sure the lights weren’t too bright or distracting for people living nearby, aiming for a “gentle, quiet effect” rather than something more dramatic.


“I’m very proud of the idea that … there are certain buildings where the only people that will ever see them regularly are the people that live across the street,” Frelin said. “It’s their building.”



Didn't realize that one of the #breathinglights installations was just down the street from me. #art #enjoytroy

A photo posted by Joe Landor (@landoralpha) on




_____




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


_____



-- 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.

Now You Can Whip Up A Demogorgon Pie Thanks To Netflix And ‘Stranger Things'

0
0




If you’re still not over the “Stranger Things” hype, don’t worry, because Netflix isn’t either.


The streaming service just uploaded two “Stranger Things”themed recipe videos on their YouTube channel and the treats are, well ... strange!


Both recipe videos feature the iconic, can’t-get-out-of-your-head theme music of the show and include a scene from the series. One recipe is for a sweet Demogorgon Pie and the other is for a disturbing soup they call “French Onion Barb.” (We miss you, Barb!)













Demogorgon Pie is a pumpkin, cherry, and blackberry pie that looks like everyone’s favorite terrifying monster.













It also involves a lot of tediously placed almonds, but rest assured: We’d most definitely eat it. Which is good, because Netflix warns us in the video’s caption that if bakers don’t “eat the pie,” they’ll be “eaten by the pie.”


The French Onion Barb is the food equivalent to Barb’s untimely death. It’s a gruesome flashback to Barb in the Upside Down, but edible, somehow?













Yeah, we’re not sure who crafted this one, but the recipe involves those cooking it to make Barb-shaped bread. And, as is traditional with French onion soup, the bread-Barb is covered in melted Swiss cheese.













You can snag the full recipes for the creations in the videos’ description section.


These treats come just in time for Halloween, so if you’re in need of some creepy (but also yummy) food to bring with you to your friend’s costume party, Netflix has you covered. 


Who’s hungry? 





-- 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.

Yes, Isis Hair Salon Is A Real Parlor. No, It's Not Linked To Terrorism.

0
0



“If your hair is a terror, come to Isis Hair Salon.”


“The prices will blow you away.”


These are just some examples of the pun-heavy, insensitive comments Carrie Banks said she has received as the business owner of a beauty parlor in Los Angeles, California, called Isis Hair Salon.


Banks, who is featured in a new short documentary that was released on YouTube Tuesday, said she always wanted her salon to be famous someday, but certainly not by people poking fun or drawing association of its name to the Islamic State group also known as ISIS. 


“I was hoping that this is was something that was going to pass quickly and that it would go away,” Banks said in the video produced by Super Deluxe. 


Unfortunately, Banks said the taunting hasn’t stopped as attacks by the militant group continue across the world. She said she has tried to explain to the public that her salon, which has been open since 1995 and caters primarily to black clients, has absolutely no association to ISIS. In fact, she said her selection of the salon name was a way to pay homage to an Egyptian goddess by the same name.  


“Isis was a queen, the queen of beauty, the queen of giving and I felt that was how I was conducting myself at the time,” Banks explained. 


“It was very obvious when you walked in that it was a royal type of treatment and the name matched that,” she added. “I like to make everyone feel like a queen when they’re in my chair.”


Banks began to become emotional as she shared how her business has been unfairly blasted by rabbis for its name. She said she’s even considered taking the store’s sign down. 


“I have attempted to take the sign down and change it and I’m running into people... who will not help me,” she said. “It’s a very emotional thing for me.” 


Banks said she has even reached out to different news outlets “asking them why is it they keep saying ISIS. The president doesn’t call them that, he calls them ‘ISIL.’” 


And while some employees are able to laugh off the teasing, others say it has taken a personal toll on them, too. “It really caused an effect on us, to the point where people are leaving messages on our answering machine,” one employee said in the video. 


Meanwhile, some customers think the backlash is just plain absurd. “It’s crazy to me because it’s so dramatic like it’s a hair salon,” one woman said. “I would never think this is linked to terrorism.” 


Despite the mixed reactions, Banks said that she will continue to fight back against the haters one hairstyle at a time. 


“I just love what I do,” Banks said. “Even if I change my name, people will always still look for Isis Hair Salon.”


Watch the full documentary in the video above. 

-- 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.

'Hairspray Live!’ Director Hopes The Musical Will Bring Peace And Love

0
0

Kenny Leon’s award-winning eye for theater will return to television with the telecast of NBC’s fourth live musical event, “Hairspray Live!”


Adapted from the 2002 Tony Award-winning Broadway production, which was based on the 1988 film, the network musical will feature an all-star ensemble cast including newcomer Maddie Baillio (as Tracy Turnblad), Ariana Grande (as Penny Pingleton), Jennifer Hudson (Motormouth Maybelle), Martin Short (Wilbur Turnblad), Harvey Fierstein (as Edna Turnblad) and special guest stars Sean Hayes (Mr. Pinky), Andrea Martin (Prudy Pingleton) and Rosie O’Donnell (as the gym teacher). 


Following his success with “The Wiz Live!” the special marks Leon’s second directorial effort in the network’s franchise of live musical events. In speaking with The Huffington Post, the Tony Award winner said he’s extremely grateful to lead such a diverse musical, and said the special comes at a pivotal time in America. 


“This is a musical piece that is about integration, and it’s about accepting each other for who we are,” he said. “Rather than focusing on your size, or your race, or your sexual orientation, we should just accept each human being for the beauty that they bring to the planet.”


He added, “So with ‘Hairspray,’ it’s fun, it’s funny, it’s exciting, and it has a great statement to make to the world. And I think we really need it now given this political climate, and given what’s happening to young African Americans all over the country, ‘Hairspray’ is a musical that says we as Americans we can do better.”  



With Leon at helm, the NBC telecast will also implement elements from the original theater production by tapping choreographer Jerry Mitchell and composer Marc Shaiman, as well as Craig Zadan and Neil Meron who produced the 2007 motion picture remake of “Hairspray.” Leon added that the original plot will be told through the lens of modern events that “we’ve seen in the last few years in our country.”


In addition to revamping the award-winning production, Leon shared how he hopes to top his record-breaking ratings from “The Wiz Live!” The special drew 11.1 million viewers for its premiere date in December 2015, making it the network’s second most-watched live musical event behind “The Sound of Music Live!” in 2013 which brought in 18.6 million viewers, according to CNN.



I want Americans to get out of living in fear and hate and go back to the peace and the love."
Kenny Leon


For Leon, his goal is to attract many more Americans to watch “Hairspray Live!” 


“If you can get that many Americans ― cross generational and cross racial lines, and cross sexual identity lines ― to all sit down together and do something in real time together, that seems like an accomplishment in such a country where we have iPhones and iPads and so many other distractions.”


Leon also added how he hopes that his latest endeavor will make a vital statement to Americans.


“I think we are better than what we’ve been showing recently ― politically, socially, relationships with communities and policemen. I think we’re better than that,” he said. “I want Americans to get out of living in fear and hate and go back to the peace and the love. And I think ‘Hairspray’ would be a great motivational tool to bring it together to let us back in our beauty of being human, instead of that negative part of being human.”  


In addition to “Hairspray Live!” Leon is also working on casting for the Broadway revival of “The Wiz.” The production is tentatively set to debut in October 2017.


Hairspray Live!” airs on NBC on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. EST.

-- 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 18483 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images