The Mel Gibson-directed “Hacksaw Ridge” debuts Friday, following arguably a successful press cycle of redemption for the controversial star. Most notably, Stephen Colbert invited Gibson to be on “The Late Show” earlier this week. The two made a viral video together and Gibson kind-of-sort-of expressed remorse for the things he did and said in his younger days.

“Not my proudest moment, Stephen,” Gibson told the late-night host, presumably referring to his anti-Semitic comment to a police officer who pulled him over for suspected drunken driving in 2006. Gibson told the officer, “F**king Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” He could’ve also been referencing a racist rant from 2010 in which he told a woman, now infamously, “You look like a f**king pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault.”  

Gibson continued to tell Colbert on the show, “But, you know, 10 years go by, I worked a lot on myself, I’m actually happier and healthier than I’ve been in a long time.”

To Colbert’s credit, the host pushed Gibson to have a more straightforward and clear-cut apology, but Gibson instead dodged all attempts to say sorry. Despite the entertainment industry welcoming him back into legitimacy over the last month with glowing reviews and puff-piece articles about his new beard, Gibson has yet to have a clear moment of remorse during this press tour. That’s always been his style, though.

Before the 2010 rant that derailed his career, Gibson had already created a long wake of controversies, often making racist, homophobic and sexist statements while being interviewed.

In retrospect, perhaps the definitive Gibson interview is the actor’s 1995 Playboy profile, which occurred during the time he was in postproduction for “Braveheart.” HuffPost secured a copy of the story from the Playboy archive.

In the piece, Playboy reporter Lawrence Grobel claims he got over eights hours of conversation time with Gibson, spanning multiple days. Grobel proceeds to publish long quotes from Gibson that essentially let the actor die by his own words.

When he’s not talking about fist fights he got in, a dog he illegally ate and stapling his sister’s head, or making light of a drunk-driving incident when he rear-ended a car, Gibson at least admits that he has a “self-destructive tendency” and can’t seem to keep his mouth shut. Of course, that’s abundantly clear when the actor ― about to make a significant career jump with “Braveheart” ― talks in length about why women are inherently untrustworthy and how the United States presidential election is rigged by an illuminati-type organization.

Gibson doesn’t seem like the kind of person who has regrets, but with his redemption movie coming out, he probably still would rather you didn’t reread the quotes below.

Gibson explains why men and women are not equal.

[Q] Playboy: What about allowing women to be priests?

[A] Gibson: No.

[Q] Playboy: Why not?

[A] Gibson: I’ll get kicked around for saying it, but men and women are just different. They’re not equal. The same way that you and I are not equal.

[Q] Playboy: That’s true. You have more money.

[A] Gibson: You might be more intelligent, or you might have a bigger dick. Whatever it is, nobody’s equal. And men and women are not equal. I have tremendous respect for women. I love them. I don’t know why they want to step down. Women in my family are the center of things. All good things emanate from them. The guys usually mess up.

[Q] Playboy: That’s quite a generalization.

[A] Gibson: Women are just different. Their sensibilities are different.

The Playboy interviewer presses for a specific example and Gibson calls a former business partner a “cunt.”

[Q] Playboy: Any examples?

[A] Gibson: I had a female business partner once. Didn’t work.

[Q] Playboy: Why not?

[A] Gibson: She was a cunt.

[Q] Playboy: And the feminists dare to put you down!

[A] Gibson: Feminists don’t like me, and I don’t like them. I don’t get their point. I don’t know why feminists have it out for me, but that’s their problem, not mine.

[Q] Playboy: What did you so dislike about your former business partner?

[A] Gibson: She was more vicious than any guy in business I’ve ever seen. She thought she needed to overcompensate for the fact that she was a woman. Which is just bullshit. It’s like unbelievable ferocity and unreasonableness. Then, when you got to her reason, she’d pull the woman thing on you. She wasn’t fair. They don’t play fair.

Gibson implies women are inherently out to “hurt” men, telling a joke that involves Hillary Clinton.

[Q] Playboy: All women, or just this woman?

[A] Gibson: It happens a lot. They’re not coming from the same place at all. There are certain things men will never understand about them. We’ll never get it. And you’re supposed to be nice to them. Because they can hurt you. It’s like that joke about the guy who bedded three women: Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding and Hillary Clinton. He woke up with no penis, his kneecaps bashed in and no health insurance.

Referring to Bill Clinton, Gibson expresses his belief that all elections are rigged by a shadowy organization.

[Q] Playboy: How do you feel about Bill Clinton?

[A] Gibson: The guy who’s in charge isn’t going to be the front man, ever. If I were going to be calling the shots I wouldn’t make an appearance. Would you? You’d end up losing your head. It happens all the time. All those monarchs. If he’s the leader, he’s getting shafted. What’s keeping him in there? Why would you stay for that kind of abuse? Except that he has to stay for some reason. He was meant to be the president 30 years ago, if you ask me.

[Q] Playboy: He was just 18 then.

[A] Gibson: Somebody knew than that he would be president now.

[Q] Playboy: You really believe that?

[A] Gibson: I really believe that. He was a Rhodes scholar, right? Just like Bob Hawke. Do you know what a Rhodes scholar is? Cecil Rhodes established the Rhodes scholarship for those young men and women who want to strive for a new world order. Have you heard that before? George Bush? CIA? Really, it’s Marxism, but it just doesn’t want to call itself that. Karl had the right idea, but he was too forward about saying what it was. Get power but don’t admit to it. Do it by stealth. There’s a whole trend of Rhodes scholars who will be politicians around the world.

Gibson continues to talk about how he believes in a conspiracy theory about presidential assassinations.

[Q] Playboy: This certainly sounds like a paranoid sense of world history. You must be quite an assassination buff.

[A] Gibson: Oh, fuck. A lot of those guys pulled a boner. There’s something to do with the Federal Reserve that Lincoln did, Kennedy did and Reagan tried. I can’t remember what it was, my dad told me about it. Everyone who did this particular thing that would have fixed the economy got undone. Anyway, I’ll end up dead if I keep talking shit.

What other conspiracy theory does Gibson believe in? That evolution is a lie.

[Q] Playboy: Do you believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution or that God created man in his image?

[A] Gibson: The latter.

[Q] Playboy: So you can’t accept that we descended from monkeys and apes?

[A] Gibson: No, I think it’s bullshit. If it isn’t, why are they still around? How come apes aren’t people yet? It’s a nice theory, but I can’t swallow it. There’s a big credibility gap. The carbon dating thing that tells you how long something’s been around, how accurate is that, really? I’ve got one of Darwin’s books at home and some of that stuff is pretty damn funny. Some of his stuff is true, like that the giraffe has a long neck so it can reach the leaves. But I just don’t think you can swallow the whole piece.

The Playboy reporter pushes Gibson on accusations that he’s a homophobe and misogynist. Gibson says he’s not and claims he just thinks some “modes of behavior [are] unnatural.”

[Q] Playboy: You can use it on your critics, who have called you, among other things, homophobic, misogynistic―

[A] Gibson: Racist, bigoted, all sorts of things.

[Q] Playboy: Are you any of those things?

[A] Gibson: No, I’m not. I’m really not. I think if you suggest that you find some modes of behavior unnatural, then you become all those things. And you get vilified. It’s like having people holding signs and trying to spit on you.

Gibson is baffled by the fact that people think he’s offensive and reiterates that he’ll apologize “when hell freezes over.”

[Q] Playboy: Outside Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood?

[A] Gibson: Yeah, that’s when I found out I was a misogynist, a bigot, a racist, a neo-Nazi and a homophobe. They had signs, they were screaming and frothing at the mouth, pure hatred. It was wild. People just looking for attention.

[Q] Playboy: That was a gay protest, right?

[A] Gibson: Yeah, totally whipped up from nowhere. I got up to the microphone to say something and it was, like, jeers. I decided to go up and look at the people to see who they were and why they were so angry.

[Q] Playboy: Do you know why they were angry with you?

[A] Gibson: It was over something I said five years ago in a Spanish interview, which was taken the wrong way. I don’t want to go into it again because it’s like igniting a fucking spark. I just don’t want it―I don’t want anyone writing to me or coming to my house. I don’t want any of that shit. Suffice it to say that I’ve been chased by automobiles doing dangerous things on the freeway. I’m not even comfortable with you printing this because there are certain organizations that like to breathe down my neck. I don’t give a fuck what they do so long as they keep it to themselves.

[Q] Playboy: But what did you say that so pissed them off?

[A] Gibson: Whatever it was I said, they found it offensive. The next day I was doing an interview on national television and was asked, “So, are you going to apologize? You’ve offended the community.” I said, “I’m not apologizing to anyone. I’ll apologize when hell freezes over. They can fuck off.” Then the war started. It’s made me totally paranoid. I’ve got to learn to keep my mouth shut.

Gibson says he wants to kill the writer of a negative, unauthorized biography about him and expresses his frustration with people who compare him to Hitler.

Gibson: I don’t think God will put him in my path. He deserves death. He attacked me at an elemental level. He attacked my wife, my family, my father, my whole being. He’s lucky he’s still walking. He’s getting to you in the most underhanded, nasty way, threatening everything you have, everything you are, saying that you’re a worthless piece of shit. And that the people who gave birth to you are scumbags and really nasty people. And everyone you’ve ever met or touched you trampled on and fucked over. And that you’re weird and warped and it’s like you are fucking Hitler. I’m Hitler and my dad is Mussolini!

But in 1995, Gibson moved on from his anger issues and doesn’t lose his temper anymore, at least according to him.

[Q] Playboy: The director of Maverick and Lethal Weapon, Richard Donner, has said that you have a lot of anger and hostility and that underneath, you’re a tough son of a bitch.

[A] Gibson: I don’t know. I get pretty dark sometimes, pretty bleak. But that passes. I rarely lose my temper anymore.

[Q] Playboy: Which means you have lost it in the past.

[A] Gibson: You’ve got to get it out. I used to just hang on to it and then some little thing would set it off, which was stupid. You behave like an asshole when you lose it, and you feel like an asshole afterward. It’s not healthy.

In conclusion, this quote seems like his life’s thesis ― a statement that is particularly relevant just days away from the 2016 election. Here, Gibson brags that people still flock to his movies despite everything he says and does:

[A] Gibson: No. I got whacked around for smoking, fighting, not following their stupid rules. I had a rough time. I’m not much of a conformist. I was known for being a bit of a clown. I remember my dad got me aside and said, “Just remember, everybody likes a clown, but nobody pays him.” I’ve often been tempted to call him and say, “Remember how you told me . . .?” “Yeah?” “Yes, they do.”

“Hacksaw Ridge” is now in a theater near you.

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You can be highbrow. You can be lowbrow. But can you ever just be brow? Welcome to Middlebrow, a weekly examination of pop culture.

Here we are: just days away from the election, and stress levels on both sides are at an all-time high. Emails are leaking, polls are going up and down, Donald Trump is still Donald Trump. It’s not a great spot to be in. 

In times of confusion and chaos, some are relying on what celebrities have to say to assuage their fears that the United States will become a flaming dumpster fire on Nov. 8. We want the same people who uplift and inspire us through acting and song to do the same on the political scene, lack of political experience and know-how be damned. 

And they have. To name a few, Miley Cyrus has popped up in Virginia to campaign for Hillary Clinton, while Anne Hathaway showed up in Pennsylvania to stump for the Democratic candidate. Katy Perry’s and Madonna’s antics have caught the public eye, for better or worse. Lena Dunham, she of the “grabbed pussy” Halloween costume, even commented on the absurdity of celebrity voting PSAs with a somewhat awkward, pantsuit-laden rap.

It’s great that these women are using their public platform and influence to encourage voters — especially ones in that crucial youth demographic — to stop by the polls next Tuesday. Even better that they use the societal megaphone of social media to speak out against the sexual harassment and bigotry that has unfortunately become part of our 2016 election narrative.

But, should a celebrity have to do so in today’s political climate, where a politically experienced woman is contending against a loudmouth real estate tycoon, especially if part of their brand includes feminism (in actions, if not explicitly by name)?

While we’ve heard ringing endorsements from some celebrities, whether it’s those mentioned above or Scott Baio and Clint Eastwood supporting Trump, other prominent figures have kept mum. According to Esquire, top names like P. Diddy, Garth Brooks, The Rock, Ronda Rousey and Chris Pratt haven’t said one way or another who they’ll vote for, if they plan on voting at all. Then there’s the queen of #squadgoals herself.

Taylor Swift is one notably silent celebrity when it comes to politics, and one who’s also championed the power of women helping each other (except in cases like her “Bad Blood” video, where she is ... not). She’s had a complicated year between her breakup with Calvin Harris, the Hiddleswift romance heard ‘round the world, and a certain damning Snapchat released by none other than Kim Kardashian. To embroil herself in another potentially controversial topic could bring her image down. 

In July, Daily Beast writer Amy Zimmerman pointed out that Swift’s white feminism (e.g., her ill-advised tweets with Nicki Minaj under the guise of said feminism while ignoring that women of color have been historically underrepresented at award shows) seems like an apt match for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In the direct aftermath of the #KimExposedTaylorParty, Zimmerman wrote, “With all the time Swift and her squad have spent ... urging fans to focus on issues that really matter, the pop superstar could have actually directed some much-needed millennial attention toward HRC.”

In the days leading up to the election, Twitter users have been asking the pop star to speak up.

Swift has a track record of being one of the nicest pop stars around. She’s personally selected holiday gifts for lucky fans. She makes a show of stopping by children’s hospitals and quietly donated a huge sum to Kesha’s team when the singer was embroiled in a legal battle with Dr. Luke. Still, it seems that her generosity is doled out when it aligns with her carefully crafted image, that of a benevolent BFF who showers you in cat pictures and sparkly stage outfits and never wants to talk about the hard stuff.

One could argue that that’s OK — Swift is a pop star. She’s in a different realm than the dogged Republican-Democrat sparring that shows up daily in the news. Sure, but the hateful rhetoric, including attacks on the Muslim community, women, Latinos and reproductive rights, among others, spewed during this election takes the typical election-year debates over policy into one of simple human decency. 

We’re in an election season where women have reported feeling traumatized from the news of Donald Trump’s multiple alleged assaults and his offensive “locker room talk” captured on a 2005 tape. It would be a powerful show of support for sexual assault survivors if the highest-earning female musician publicly denounced the kind of offensive speech the Republican nominee is known for. It wouldn’t be an explicit endorsement of Clinton, if drawing too hard a political line would be bad for business — as Allie Jones points out in New York Magazine’s The Cut, siding with Hillary would mean being on the same team as her avowed enemy, Perry. But if Swift’s pro-women beliefs are as strong as she purports, it would be a significant nod of support to those who have been deeply affected by this year’s headlines.

It’s doubtful we’ll hear anything from Swift in the coming days — even a shot of an “I voted” sticker seems unlikely, considering her reticence on talking politics in the past. To admit to voting would spark a furious demand from fans to know who she voted for (heck, maybe Swift is secretly psyched for Jill Stein??), and an admission either way would risk alienating a chunk of her fanbase (or their parents).

Could Swift’s silence on important matters like sexual assault threaten her fanbase’s loyalty more, though? We’re all heading into a new world with either outcome on Nov. 8 — perhaps Swift will have to change her public-facing strategy, too.

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Sheila was waiting until marriage. Raised by parents who speak parabolically about good and evil (“Emptiness begets emptiness,” her father says, turning circular reasoning into something poetic, “Nothing begets nothing.”), she accepted the inherited ethical choice without question.

This didn’t put off her suitor, Jake, the narrator of April Ayers Lawson’s short story “Virgin,” the first in her debut collection. He didn’t bristle at the idea of Sheila’s inexperience, but he didn’t fetishize it either. That’s the power of Lawson’s storytelling; it’s psychologically poignant enough to avoid the generalizations often made about religion, chastity, and sexuality. Instead, Lawson explores a moral grey area, uncovering new possibilities for truth.

During their chaste engagement, Jake loves Sheila fully. He imagines her fondly as a gawky redheaded kid and is attracted to the woman she’s grown into. Her abstinence grants him clear-headedness in his vision of her ― a sort of purity. And he never questions her desire to have sex with him once they’ve said their vows. He’s surprised, then, on their honeymoon, when she rejects his advances, but continues to wear and shop for miniskirts and tall, black boots ― outfits that heighten his attraction. Lawson is never mean about these little hypocrisies. She seems to write to understand them.

Soon, Jake begins ― in the safer realm of his imagination ― to seek sexual solace in a co-worker whose desires and beliefs are more seamlessly aligned. Meanwhile, Sheila remains disenchanted with her new knowledge that sex isn’t always transcendent. Most of the story hangs around in this complicated space, without drawing conclusions about how either character should solve their dilemma.

Lawson brings the same subtlety to the collection’s other four stories, about youthful sexual taboo, female friendship, and failing adult relationships.

In “The Way You Must Play Always,” a girl’s parents encourage her to take piano lessons after they catch her fooling around with her cousin. Rather than whipping her into shape, the lessons introduce her to her instructor’s brother, a lonely, troubled man with a brain tumor, whose blunt affections roil her. Although she seduces him, the coupling is seen as inappropriate on the man’s part. The girl’s inappropriate desires are the result of her parent’s shaky relationship, and sexuality, here, is imagined as a complex web of innate yearnings and societal motivations.

In “Vulnerability,” a woman takes a trip to New York, a reprieve from her depressed husband, only to replace thoughts of him with interest in a man who is ostensibly different but ultimately the same underneath his sheen of sophistication.

In “Three Friends in a Hammock,” the insular world of friend-love is made literal as a trio of like-minded women neurotically contemplate who is closer with whom, whose relationship is in a better state, and other intricacies of platonic affection. During the entire story, they’re closed off from the rest of a backyard party.

A refreshing take on desires both taboo and repressed, Virgin and Other Stories is a promising debut.

The bottom line:

A subtle look at our deep, animal desires, and the moral systems that tenuously tamper them down.

Who wrote it:

This is April Ayers Lawson’s debut collection. Her stories have appeared in Vice, Granta, Oxford American, and elsewhere.

What other reviewers think:

NPR: “The audacious but vulnerable young Southerners who populate these five tales live in a world where the ordinary uncertainties of relationships and physical intimacy are amplified and distorted by their devout, fundamentalist Christian upbringing, and in several cases, a history of childhood sexual abuse.”

Kirkus: “Meaty, satisfying tales of a substance that suggests Lawson would make a fine novelist.”

Opening lines:

“Jake hadn’t meant to stare at her breasts, but there they were, absurdly beautiful, almost glowing above the plunging neckline of the faded blue dress.”

Notable passage:

“Gretchen again began the piece. Her fingers moved clumsily over the keys because she was also looking out the window. The weather changed so quickly. A moment ago it had been hot and still, and now the wind had picked up.”

Virgin and Other Stories
April Ayers Lawson
$23.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published Nov. 1, 2016

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In not-so-shocking news, it looks like Trump supporters really don’t get performance art. The quite subtle headline on the front page of the Drudge Report today reads “WIKI WICCAN: PODESTA PRACTICES OCCULT MAGIC,” referring to Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta.

The truth, however, is not that Podesta worships the dark forces of the underworld, but that he is somewhat chummy with the Grandmother of Performance Art herself, Marina Abramović. 

Come on, alt-right, have you even heard of “The Artist Is Present”?

To backtrack a bit, Podesta’s email account was hacked and its contents are slowly but surely being published on Wikileaks. A recent document reveals a 2015 email conversation between John Podesta and his brother Tony, a lobbyist and big time contemporary art collector. The email in question reads: 

Are you in NYC Thursday July 9

Marina wants you to come to dinner 

That Marina would be Abramović, the Serbian performance artist (born in the former Yugoslavia) who can bring mere mortals to tears just by staring them in the face in the halls of the Museum of Modern Art. 

The original email from Marina herself, inviting Tony to one of her Spirit Cooking dinners, reads:

Dear Tony,

I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining?

All my love, Marina

Now, you may be thinking, “What is a Spirit Cooking dinner? And how can I get to one ASAP?”

A little history: Abramović did, in 1996, create a series of 12 etchings called “Spirit Cooking,” which contained Yoko Ono-esque “recipes” like “sitting on a copper chair / comb your hair / with a clear quartz crystal brush / until your memory is released.” Spin also uncovered a YouTube video called “Spirit Cooking,” in which Abramović paints paranormal messages in pig’s blood on the wall, including, “Mix fresh breast milk with fresh sperm milk / Drink on earthquake nights.”

As far as Marina’s art goes, it’s pretty tame stuff.  

Although Abramović created uncanny artworks under the label of “Spirit Cooking” in the past, the dinner in question was simply that ― dinner. 

Specifically, it was a reward for donors who had given the largest amount, $10,000 or more, to a Kickstarter campaign that Abramović launched to fund a new art institute in New York’s Hudson Vallet. (The Kickstarter page promised that Abramović would teach donors “how to cook a series of traditional soups,” followed by a Tibetan dessert.)

Abramović told The Huffington Post in a statement that she’s never met John Podesta and that he didn’t attend her dinner. “Tony Podesta is a longstanding friend of mine. These comments relating to his brother John are absurd,” she said. “I am astonished and appalled that references to my work are being misrepresented in this way to use for political capital.”

Well there you have it. “Spirit Cooking” is most certainly not, as pro-Trump websites are alleging, proof that Clinton’s campaign chairman is “into spooky occult rituals involving menstrual blood and semen.” Or that he took part in rituals embraced by “Satanist Aleister Crowley.” 

In fact, Podesta didn’t even respond to his brother’s message, proving, if anything, he doesn’t know a good invite when he sees one. 

Trump supporters, we know performance art can get super weird. Sometimes it involves blood, and semen, and even, yes, breast milk. Sometimes it pushes the boundaries of acceptable behavior and delves into the dark terrain of the mystical unknown. At least Podesta wasn’t talking up the Orgy Mystery Theatre ― it’s hard to imagine what Infowars would make of that.

But even Abramović’s most gruesome performance is nowhere near as terrifying as the real-life horror show that has been the Republican presidential candidate’s hate-fueled campaign. We’re hoping #SpiritCooking becomes the new #NastyWomen.

This article features additional reporting from Nico Pitney and has been updated to include a statement from Marina Abramović.

H/T Spin

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-birther_us_57e31b1be4b0e80b1ba04348?7i5ir4bn4b1emi"> >birther who has
repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from
entering the U.S.

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Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden are the duo behind the China Africa Project and hosts of the popular China in Africa Podcast. We’re here to answer your most pressing, puzzling, even politically incorrect questions, about all things related to the Chinese in Africa and Africans in China.

The Chinese government is reportedly spending billions of dollars around the world to expand its already massive global media footprint. Africa is a major destination for a lot of that investment. Although it is not clear how much money the Chinese have spent to develop the country’s Africa-focused economy, the sums are likely in the millions of dollars.

The Communist party-run China Central Television, or CCTV, has a production in Kenya, the official China Daily newspaper prints local editions in South Africa and China Radio International, or CRI, is broadcast on the local FM dial in a number of a countries across Africa.

While officials in Beijing are expert in building vast media distribution networks, such as what is now available in Africa, the Chinese have been far less successful in creating compelling content that people actually want to consume. 

Since there are no reliable pan-African TV ratings data that are publicly available, it is impossible to know how many people really watch CCTV’s news programs or listen to their news shows on CRI in some countries. The Chinese, like other international broadcasters, will play with the numbers by implying that just because their content is available in millions of homes that means a similar number of people are genuinely watching it, which is likely an exaggeration.

In the United States, for example, CCTV is available across the country on satellite and cable TV systems. Unlike in Africa, the U.S. has much more reliable TV ratings data that CCTV does not subscribe to, likely for fear of exposing lower than desired ratings. This highlights that even though the Chinese government may spend a lot of money to produce content, it is extremely difficult to build an audience for that programming.

Movies

While China’s state-funded, Communist party-run media outlets may struggle to find a mass audience for their content in Africa and elsewhere around the world, a certain genre of Chinese-language movies, by contrast, has been popular for decades. Hong Kong-produced Kung Fu movies, most notably those featuring martial arts legend Bruce Lee, have been staples in Africa’s pirated video bazaars dating back to the 1960s and 70s. Even today, in the DVD markets of Cairo or the bars in Kinshasa or on cable TV channels in Johannesburg, Hong Kong’s martial arts films remain an extremely popular form of entertainment.  

Sure, there is a universal appeal to a single person beating up dozens of rivals with amazing dexterity. Everyone loves a great action movie. But for some Africans, there is an additional appeal to those early Bruce Lee movies in which the hero in colonial Hong Kong openly fights back against his white British overlords. In places like South Africa, that type of insurrection was resolutely banned by the then-apartheid government for fear that oppressed black residents would be inspired by Bruce Lee’s battle for dignity and honor.

In a new research paper published for the Journal of African Cultural Studies, the China Africa Project’s own Cobus van Staden examines why Kung Fu movies became so popular in South Africa during the 1960s and 70s. Eric and Cobus ― in the podcast above ― also discuss what lessons China’s media strategists can learn from Hong Kong’s wildly successful film producers who, unlike CCTV and the China Daily, for example, have been able to generate huge audiences and tremendous profits.

Join the discussion. What do you think of Hong Kong’s legendary Kung Fu movies and why are they so popular across Africa? Let us know what you think.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject

Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque

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Sofía Muñoz Boullosa came across the Rosalindo Grocery Store while walking through the streets of Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. She took a photo. But when the Mexico City native turned to walk away she heard a man shout after her.

The man was Pedro Cruz, the owner of the store, he wore a blue apron and asked the 26-year-old photojournalist to take a photo of him. When the two realized they were both from Mexico, they began to chat.

“We talked for a couple of hours about Mexico, Puebla, his native state, Mexican food, racism, migration, Trump and the true meaning of missing Mexico,” Muñoz Boullosa told The Huffington Post via e-mail. “When I returned home an idea occurred to me: to look for more ‘Pedros’ to demonstrate the variety, complexity and the human stories linked to migration.” 

Muñoz Boullosa began by searching through social media for people named Pedro who lived in New York. She only found two using that method, so she began walking neighborhoods with large Mexican communities and simply stopping and asking at shops and stores if there was anyone named Pedro around. 

The idea about a photo series centered on Mexican immigrants had been brewing in Muñoz Boullosa head since she first arrived to the United States in 2015, the year Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president. 

“When I came to New York, the subject of Trump and migration was all over the media,” she recalled. “He had just expressed his beliefs that Mexicans bring drugs into the United States and are rapists. From the first day I was here I knew that I wanted to work on a project which challenged these declarations and these sentiments and provide an alternative image of Mexicans who come to the United States looking for a better life.”

But despite wanting to “stand up for Mexican people in the United States during this moment where we have been targeted as something we’re not,” Muñoz Boullosa understood the importance of keeping her project positive.

“Unlike [Trump], I wanted to challenge his statements from a rhetoric that does not come from hatred, but from understanding,” she said. “I view my project as a possibility of changing people’s minds towards immigration from that place of being sensitive and empathetic with the human condition, not the political turmoil around it.”

I learned that migration is a natural process: butterflies migrate, humans also do. The causes are different, but in the end finding a better place to live is natural."

While her photo series documents the stories of Mexican men named Pedro, Muñoz Boullosa says she feels these stories could belong to “Dimitris, Youssefs, Chengs, Mohameds, Paolos, or it could be the story of any of us.”

And despite being an immigrant herself, the photographer says putting her “Pedro” series together taught her about how the immigrant experience is a normal part of the human experience. 

“I learned that immigration is made up by individuals, it is not a homogeneous theme,” she said. “Every single person that has migrated has a different story, and everyone should have the right to tell it. It should not be used as a political weapon because it is a human right that belongs to all of us. I learned that migration is a natural process: butterflies migrate, humans also do. The causes are different, but in the end finding a better place to live is natural.”

Take a look at the Pedros she met below and what they told her about Mexico, being an immigrant in the United States and 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-birther_us_57e31b1be4b0e80b1ba04348?7i5ir4bn4b1emi"> >birther who has
repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from
entering the U.S.

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Samantha Bee is under no illusions that sexism will disappear if Hillary Clinton becomes president.  

The “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” host spoke with Fast Company editor KC Ifeanyi at the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Thursday in New York. Bee shared lessons from creating the first season of her much-lauded late-night show, which airs on TBS.  

Since “Full Frontal” premiered earlier this year, Bee’s voice has stood out in a late-night landscape crowded with male hosts during an election cycle when misogyny has featured prominently. But Bee admitted non-stop election coverage takes its toll. “So nice of you to have me because it is 37 minutes with which to not check FiveThirtyEight.com constantly,” she joked.

When the audience was invited to submit questions on Twitter, some hoped the comedian could alleviate some of their own election anxiety. 

Reading a question from the audience, Ifeanyi asked Bee: “Do you think a Clinton presidency will improve sexism in the U.S, or make it worse?”

 “Oh my god, no!” Bee said, as the audience joined her in pained laughter. “It’s gonna get so much worse!”

“That’s an adorable question... I love that anyone could even imagine that it will solve any problem of sexism. I think it will amplify misogyny to a degree that has never before been seen.”

“Certainly, the problem of racism was solved under Barack Obama,” the comedian joked. “So, probably we can expect the same results.”

Since premiering in February, “Full Frontal” has produced critically acclaimed and widely-shared segments related to sexism, reproductive rights and women’s equality. After Election Day, Bee intends to lampoon the deeper layers of American misogyny that having a woman president in office would likely expose. 

“It’s going to be horrible. It’s going to be a tsunami of misogyny,” Bee said. “I think that will be rich territory for us to mine on the show, and that is the only upside to it for me.”

When it comes to her own critics, Bee says she “doesn’t worry about industry stuff.”  

“I have a zen attitude, which is irritating to hear probably. I don’t get up my own ass that much,” she said. “I have insecurities and wrestle with decisions. I don’t compare myself to other performers or watch other shows. I don’t have time for it. It’s so distracting.”

“Full Frontal,” which has outperformed Bee’s former employer, “The Daily Show,” throughout the election season, will air weekly through the end of 2016 while the show awaits renewal for a second season. For now, Bee is happy to think short-term.

“I’m looking forward to two weeks where I don’t say the words ‘Donald Trump,’” she said.

Same, Bee. Same. 

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Dear millennials, former “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs has a message for you: Vote.

But first, because he acknowledges that one in four of us are still undecided (or, sigh, not voting), he’s taken some time out of his day to break down the starkly different policies that make up the vastly unalike platforms of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

In a video for Humanity for Hillary, he provides eight minutes of extremely fast talking crucial information for voters ahead of the election on Nov. 8. All so that you, fellow millennials, can feel just a little more informed. 

Or, at the very least, a little more in love with the wonder that is Daveed Diggs. Our generation, after all, really loves “Hamilton.”

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Donald Trump, who has repeatedly used lewd and offensive language and bragged about sexually assaulting women, has lamented the language that rapper Jay Z uses in his music.

During an event in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday the GOP presidential nominee spoke about a rally that artists including Jay Z, Beyoncé and Chance The Rapper held for Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton on Friday.

“I actually like Jay Z, but you know the language last night. Ooh, ooooh, I was just thinking maybe I should just try it, should I use that language for one event?” Trump said. “Can you imagine if I said that? So he used every word in the book. I won’t even use the initials, because I’ll get in trouble, they’ll [the media] get me in trouble.”

After boasting that he drew a bigger crowd on Friday than the superstars did, Trump went on to say that he never used lewd language in his life. This is despite his making international headlines when he boasted of grabbing women “by the pussy.”

“He used language last night that was so bad, and then Hillary Clinton said ‘I did not like Donald Trump’s lewd language’ My lewd language? I’ll tell you what, I’ve never said what he said in my life. But that shows you the phoniness of politicians and the phoniness of the whole system folks.”

Trump must have conveniently forgotten that he has regularly dropped the “f-bomb” during his presidential campaign.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, echoed Trump’s attack, tweeting that Jay Z’s lyrics weren’t good for America’s children. 

Several of Jay Z’s songs do contain explicit lyrics, but Trump has a history of using crude language.

In 2005, he was caught on tape bragging about making unwanted advances toward Nancy O’Dell, who was married at the time.

“I did try and fuck her. She was married,” Trump said. “I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”

On the same “Access Hollywood” tape, Trump can be heard calling someone a “pussy” and making lewd remarks about groping women.

Trump’s vulgar language has extended to the campaign trail.

Speaking at a rally in February, Trump said “we’re gonna have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire that are now in Mexico come back to New Hampshire and you can tell them to go fuck themselves because they let you down” Trump said, mouthing the expletive.

He also called Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) a pussy in February, when he repeated the words of a supporter who shouted it at a rally.

“You’re not allowed to say, and I never expected to hear that from you again, she said, I never expect to hear that from you again, she said he’s a pussy,” Trump said.

He has also said China is “ripping the shit out of the sea,” and declared he would “bomb the shit” out of the so-called Islamic State militant group.

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.

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Marathon Sunday in New York City was a pretty festive experience, and one cop took a quick break from work to get in on the action. 

In a video posted to Instagram and shared on Facebook, Sachin Shenolikar described how he was playing with his band, the Condescending Liberals, along the marathon route, when he noticed a police officer enjoying the music. 

“My hands were cramping up a bit, so I took a break and chatted with him as the band jammed on,” Shenolikar wrote. “He said he was a guitar player too. I asked if he wanted to jump in and play.”

Shenolikar handed over his guitar and the unidentified officer began to jam for the runners and the crowd.

Check out the officer’s impressive skills in the video above.

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George R. R. Martin knows all about the despicable nature of politics. Joffrey Baratheon, anyone?

But the acclaimed author has now turned his attention from the fictional skulduggery of Westeros to the very real race for the White House, with a blistering blog post about GOP nominee Donald Trump.

“In my lifetime, there has never been a presidential candidate more unfit to lead this nation,” the 68-year-old writer posted on LiveJournal on Friday.

“You don’t need to like Hillary [Clinton]. You don’t need to listen to what Hillary says about Trump, or what I say about Trump,” he added. “You just need to listen to Trump. If you can do that, and still consider voting for him... well…”

Martin, whose Song of Ice and Fire book series was adapted into the HBO fantasy epic “Game of Thrones,” said he reached his damning conclusion after examining the rival campaigns’ political ads in New Mexico, where he lives.

The acclaimed author pointed out how the Trump attack ads against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were “made of assertion, innuendo, and name-calling,” but ultimately had “no substance.” 

He found Clinton’s attack ads, however, to be “much more truthful.”

There's no name-calling either. Clinton doesn't need to label Trump as 'crooked' or 'a liar' or link him with 'perverts.' Clinton's ads just show Trump being Trump.
George R. R. Martin on Hillary Clinton's anti-Trump adverts.

“Hillary does not need to use the sort of hoary attack ads that Trump is using,” Martin added. “She only needs to present him as he is, and let his own words condemn them.”

Martin admitted the brash businessman did have an advantage over previous presidential candidates who’d lost the election over “trivial” and “insignificant” things.

“[Trump] has said the vilest things any presidential candidate has said since George Wallace, and he’s rising in the polls,” he wrote. “He has boasted that he could shoot someone dead on Fifth Avenue and still not lose any votes. I am beginning to think he was right.” 

Read Martin’s full blog post here.

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.

Donate below to support women, Latinos, Muslims, other groups Donald Trump has insulted.

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Life with cats is both wonderfully weird and unexpectedly awesome. These sneaky critters tend to overtake our homes with habits that just don’t make sense sometimes, but somehow their antics only seem to make us love them more.

Illustrator Landysh of Lingvistov has compiled a series of life truths for cat lovers into a 2017 wall calendar that’ll keep you LOL-ing all year long for just $20. Take a look:

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Upon first glance, a sculpture from artist Natalie Baxter’s “Warm Gun” series resembles an adorably lopsided creature from a Dr. Seuss-like imaginary land. The soft, cartoonish forms droop awkwardly and endearingly, their candy-colored bodies clinging adoringly to anyone who attempts to handle them. 

Upon closer look, however, one realizes that those wayward appendages are in fact triggers, safeties and trigger guards. That squishy butt? A magazine. The wilting head? A muzzle. Friends, these cuddly and charming forms are, in fact, representations of deadly assault weapons. 

Baxter was inspired to embark on this soft sculpture series in late 2014, during a Christmastime visit to her hometown of rural Kentucky. “I was at a friend’s house who had a collection of handguns hanging on his wall,” Baxter recalled in an email to The Huffington Post.

The jarring image struck Baxter, specifically in combination with the slew of gun-related violence plaguing the nation. “This was in the wake of Ferguson, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter marches were happening across the country and police brutality and gun violence were hot media topics and fresh on everyone’s mind.”

Staring at the firearms adorning the walls, Baxter was also reminded of her grandmother, how she would comfort her uneasy offspring during spooky childhood nights by saying, “Don’t worry, children, I’ve got a gun.”

It was this same grandmother who taught Baxter how to quilt at a young age, culling multicolored scraps from the heap of fabric she kept in her attic. “Granny was a hardworking homemaker and was always keeping herself busy with quilting, cooking or gardening,” the artist said. “She didn’t make it past eighth grade but she was wise from experiences very different than my own upbringing.”

Suddenly, Baxter had an idea. Kentucky, her grandmother, quilting, the wall of deadly weapons displayed so cavalierly ― they all came together in a single, very soft vision. “I wondered what a wall covered with stuffed, quilted guns would look like in contrast,” Baxter said. “Thus, ‘Warm Gun’ began.”

Since she began in 2015, Baxter has crafted almost 100 hand-sewn guns, brightly colored and soft to the touch. She started out finding fabric from clothes in her roommate’s Goodwill pile ― “In Ya Genes,” for example, is made from three pairs of old pants. 

Over time, Baxter began mining New York’s garment district for more distinctive patterns, opting for brazenly feminine materials like sequins, pinks, tassels and floral patterns. The combination of “girly” media and sewing ― historically regarded as a feminine craft because of its roots in the domestic sphere ― contrast starkly with the traditionally masculine associations attributed to gun ownership. 

“As many of these tragic mass shootings were taking place at the hands of men, I started to speculate on the relationship between masculinity and gun ownership,” Baxter explained. She mentioned the recent strides we’ve made as a culture in regards to feminism, LGBTQ rights and the sad reality that some people see liberation of others as a threat to themselves. 

“I felt like there was some relationship with these changes and male gun ownership but couldn’t put any facts behind it,” Baxter said. “Then I came across an article written by Elizabeth Winkler for Quartz that explains it really well called ‘America’s gun problem has everything to do with America’s masculinity problem.’ She quotes sociologist Jennifer Carlson: ‘As men doubt their ability to provide, their desire to protect becomes all the more important. They see carrying a gun as a masculine duty.’”

Baxter’s response to all this toxic masculinity? More sparkles, more shine, and lots more sagging. “I am using the traditionally feminine craft of sewing and quilting to emasculate these objects of power and destruction into droopy, impotent, soft sculptures.” 

The artist hopes her benevolent rifles, revolvers, handguns and pistols will bring both left- and right-wing viewers a moment of pause, providing a potential space of mutual understanding for what’s most often an extremely heated issue. “Soft sculpture work is really approachable,” she said. “It’s hard not to smile when you see a recognizable object in an altered soft state, especially when made from brightly colored fabrics.”

Just like a well-crafted joke, artwork can inspire people to look past their partisan opinions to find common ground. As Baxter put it: “I hope that this work, that appears playful at first, will allow viewers with differing opinions a space where they can share thoughts on gun control, gun violence and gender identity.”

Granny would be proud. 

Natalie Baxter’s work is available on Uprise Art. 

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Remember that feeling of absolute freedom you’d get as a kid when, for the first time ever, your parents trusted you to hang out at the house alone, without a sibling or babysitter breathing down your neck?

Maybe you watched cartoons with abandon. Maybe you rummaged through your parents’ wardrobes. Maybe, if you were a contemplative child, you wondered whether there was a word for the pure glee you were experiencing.

It turns out, there is ― in German. “Sturmfrei” is an adjective literally translating to “stormfree,” or “the freedom of not being watched by a parent or superior; being alone at home and having the ability to do what you want.” And what about the divine activity all children and adequately-dressed adults love to indulge in: jumping in puddles? There’s a word for that, too ― in Icelandic. “Hoppípolla” isn’t just a popular Sigur Rós song. It’s a whimsical verb. 

Fascinated by these holes in the English language, and the lovely words on offer around the world, Yee-Lum Mak started a blog called Other Wordly, which was recently published as a book illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley. Below is a short excerpt courtesy of Chronicle Books:

1. Nefelibata (noun, male and female, Spanish and Portuguese)

“Cloud-walker”; (literary) one who lives in the clouds of their own imagination, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature or art 

2. Hoppípolla (verb phrase, Icelandic)

Jumping into puddles

3. Tatemae (noun, Japanese)

What a person pretends to believe; the behavior and opinions one must display to satisfy society’s demands

4. Honne (noun, Japanese)

What a person truly believes; the behavior and opinions that are often kept hidden and only displayed with one’s closest confidants

5. Brumous (adjective, English)

Of gray skies and winter days; filled with heavy clouds or fog; relating to winter or cold, sunless weather

6. Brontide (noun, English)

The low rumble, as of distant thunder

7. Mamihlapinatapai (noun, Yaghan)

The look shared by two people who have reached an unspoken understanding or who desire the same thing but each wish that the other would offer it first

8. Sturmfrei (adjective, German)

“Stormfree”; (literary) the freedom of not being watched by a parent or superior; being alone at home and having the ability to do what you want

9. Cwtch (noun, Welsh)

A hug or cuddle; a safe place; the space or cupboard under the stairs

10. Abditory (noun, English)

A place into which you can disappear; a hiding place to preserve the things that are most valued

11. Resfeber (noun, collective, Swedish)

The restless race of the traveler’s heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together; a “travel fever” that can manifest as illness

12. Fernweh (noun, neuter, German)

An ache for distant places; the craving for travel

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Back in August, the Western heist thriller “Hell or High Water” debuted to modest box office numbers but a consensus of critical acclaim, earning a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Weekly Oscar predictions from the site Vulture have placed the movie on the shortlist to receive an Academy Award nomination this year.

Part of the reason critics hold this movie in such a high regard is the apparent realism director David Mackenzie was able to portray on film, particularly in the action sequences.

Now in this exclusive clip provided to HuffPost ahead of the movie’s digital release tomorrow, Mackenzie explains that striving for realism was an explicit goal of his while filming. “I’m trying to make everything feel as real as possible,” Mackenzie says in the clip. “When you have an action scene, when you have a sex scene, you’re less real by definition, because you’ve got to fake more. So I was trying my hardest to make the action elements feel as real as possible and not feel glamorous.”

In the video segment, Mackenzie also talks about a specific fight scene involving Chris Pine, where the actor’s character gets in a fist fight. “There’s a scene in the film where Chris Pine defends his brother from a guy whose being a bit of an asshole,” says Mackenzie. “We tried hard to make it feel as authentic as possible.”

How did he try to capture that authenticity? Watch the clip below to find out:

“Hell or High Water” has a Nov. 8th digital release and Nov. 22nd release for the Blu-ray & DVD.

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“Trump is dangerous,” street artist Shepard Fairey explained, stating the very obvious in a recent interview with CNN. “He’s a demagogue who’s a bigot and is sexist.”

The artist’s opinion is made plain in a recent print depicting the Republican presidential candidate ― a black, white and red image reminiscent of Orwellian propaganda, zooming in on Trump’s puckered mouth mid-scream. To clear up any lingering ambiguity, the word “Demagogue” appears overhead.

The piece is a collaboration with band Franz Ferdinand, whose recent song, also titled “Demagogue,” lampoons Trump with lines like “From the Wall straight to La Quenta / Those pussy-grabbing fingers won’t let go of me now” and “From the mob to chapter eleven / Those tiny vulgar fingers on the nuclear bomb.”

Fairey is the artist behind what’s now become the most iconic image of the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama’s “Hope” poster. Some believe this image, with its viral momentum and powerful visual formula, gave Obama the final push he needed to win the election. 

Unfortunately, Fairey will not be giving Hillary the same boost this election season, even though he deems her the far superior candidate. Fairey explained his reasoning to CNN, explaining Clinton is both difficult to “pin down graphically,” and not quite “inspiring enough” to illustrate. Specifically, Fairey mentioned Clinton’s support for the Iraq war as a major disappointment. 

Despite the fact that Fairey isn’t trying to make Hillary his artistic muse anytime soon, he would like to see her as president. As he explained in an earlier interview with The Huffington Post: “I’m supporting Hillary now because I have some hope that her move further to the left under the pressure of competing with Sanders will see follow-through if she’s elected. But also I’d vote for basically anyone over Trump.”

It’s surely frustrating to the many looking forward to the nation’s first female presidency that Fairey, who drew an image of Bernie Sanders earlier this year, won’t use his visibility and acclaim to advocate for Clinton. Thankfully, in less than 48 hours, the agonizing ordeal will finally come to a close. 

See HuffPost’s entire election-themed interview with Shepard Fairey here. 

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More than anything, country singer-songwriter Ty Herndon wanted his new album, “House on Fire,” to be reflective of what he sees as a shape-shifting Nashville. 

“Country music doesn’t look like it used to, and it certainly doesn’t sound like it used to,” the Tennessee native told The Huffington Post. “I’m seeing Nashville change every day — and not only in the amount of traffic jams we have. The people who are coming to town now are just so open.” 

It isn’t just the music scene that’s changed in the three years since the release of Herndon’s last album, “Lies I Told Myself.” In November 2014, the 54-year-old came out as a “proud and happy gay man” in an interview with People magazine after nearly two decades in the music industry. Looking back, he said he decided to address his sexuality publicly in spite of the fact that he “didn’t even know if I’d still get to be doing music afterward.” 

To his surprise, Herndon received “awesome” support from fans and fellow artists, and thus felt encouraged to break out of his comfort zone, both lyrically and musically, when he headed back into the studio. Due out Nov. 11, “House on Fire” is a 12-song “musical journey” that sees Herndon coming to terms with his authentic self while incorporating modern electronic elements into his signature sound.

Fans got their first taste of “House on Fire” in October with the anthemic first single, “That Kind of Night.” As rollicking as “That Kind of Night” is, the rest of the album sees Herndon delving into deeper territory. The title track, he said, nods to how he’s reconciled with his religious faith since coming out, while “Sweet Way to Go” is a tribute to Matt Collum, his partner of eight years. 

Watch the video for “That Kind of Night” below. 

Interestingly, “House on Fire” is a bit of a musical anomaly in that none of its 12 songs include gender-specific pronouns — a fact which Herndon insists that this was not a conscious effort but rather a fortunate “accident.” As much as his coming out struggles have informed his songwriting, Herndon is hopeful “House on Fire” relays an all-inclusive message that will resound as much with listeners who identify as LGBTQ as those who don’t. “Every lyric, everything in this album ― I’ve lived it,” he told HuffPost. “And if I’ve lived it, most likely somebody else has, too.”

“I just don’t want to see a kid feel like they can’t do what they love. I felt that way for a long time, and it was not a good place to be in.”

That isn’t to say that “House on Fire” isn’t meant to speak to queer listeners specifically, as evidenced by the album’s closing ballad, “Fighter.” Noting that he’d almost “lost his life” on more than one occasion prior to his coming out, Herndon told HuffPost that the song is his way of expressing solidarity with bullied youth. “So many of us today are fighting for our identity, fighting to be who we are,” he said. (Proceeds from the sales of “Fighter” are being donated to The Trevor Project, the country’s largest LGBTQ youth advocacy and suicide prevention organization.)

Regardless of how “House on Fire” is received, Herndon already sees the album as his greatest effort toward “changing hearts and minds, and tearing down walls, in Nashville,” thus far. To that point, he’s kept active on other fronts, too, speaking out against anti-LGBTQ legislation in Tennessee and lending his voice to “Slow Down,” a song by country artist Brandon Stansell, who identifies as gay. 

“The more successful anyone that’s in the LGBTQ community is in anything they want to do in life sets a great example for the kids that are coming up,” he said. “I just don’t want to see a kid feel like they can’t do what they love. I felt that way for a long time, and it was not a good place to be in.”  

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Look, this election season has been tough on everyone: elevated anxiety levels, strained relationships, news hours devoted to emails and “Access Hollywood” audio leaks that could have been spent on more pleasant or enlightening subjects.

Even the “Game of Thrones” fandom is not immune. With just a few days to go before election day, CNN reports, author George R.R. Martin took precious hours away from his long-anticipated next installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, to hit the campaign trail both literally and virtually for Hillary Clinton.

On Saturday, Martin popped in on Clinton volunteers in Santa Fe to get out the vote, according to a campaign tweet.

Pro-Clinton sentiments have also crept into the author’s blog postings, alongside the ever-present New York Jets and Giants game recaps and fantasy event updates, as the election has approached.  

In a LiveJournal post on Friday, Martin mused about the attack ads he’d seen from the two campaigns on New Mexico airwaves in recent days, writing:

In my lifetime, there has never been a presidential candidate more unfit to lead this nation.

You don’t need to like Hillary. You don’t need to listen to what Hillary says about Trump, or what I say about Trump. You just need to listen to Trump. If you can do that, and still consider voting for him ... well...

In a blog post from Nov. 2, announcing that he had voted early, he added, “Every four years someone is sure to say, ‘This is the most important election of our lifetime,’ but this year I think that is absolutely true.”

On Sunday, he wrote: “The election still has me in a state of high anxiety. [...] Come Tuesday night, I will either be relieved or suicidal. I think I speak for a lot of Americans about that as well.”

Surely even many diehard “Game of Thrones” fans can relate to that crushing anxiety, though seeing Martin out and about, away from completing the repeatedly delayed Winds of Winter, has been known to cause grumbling in the ranks. 

Of course, if those impatient readers want a little more Westeros in their lives, might we suggest paying attention to the brutal, no-holds-barred slugfest that is this election? Even Martin’s fiction can hardly touch the real, unadulterated thing.

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Scottie Nell Hughes’ flub on CNN has Twitter in a tizzy.

In discussing the 2012 music video for Jay Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” which featured Molotov cocktails being thrown in an opening scene, the political commentator called the improvised explosive devices “mazel tov cocktails.”

Naturally, the world was like: What the f**k is a “mazel tov cocktail”?

Not even the word experts — and inadvertent election watchdogs — at Merriam-Webster had any answers.

It didn’t take long for people on Twitter to take some educated guesses on what might be in a “mazel tov cocktail,” you know, if it existed. The results are hilarious:

This is why “Manischewitz” is also trending on Twitter, if you were wondering.

Look out for “mazel tov cocktails” at your local bar this Tuesday, because odds are high that these are going to start cropping up everywhere.

Cheers to the election almost being over!

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We are officially in the final phase of what has been the most hellish election in recent American history, with less than 48 hours until the new president of the United States is (hopefully) officially declared. How you feeling? Pretty chill?

For many of us out there suffering from the very real Election Stress Disorder, the answer would be a resounding “No.”

Many have reached out suggesting ways to mitigate the acute terror and unease that have resulted from worrying about the future of our nation. The American Psychological Association, for example, suggested tips like avoiding political discussions and limiting your media consumption to stay balanced in this trying time. Also, talking to your therapist helps.

But there are also some quick and simple ways to momentarily check yourself out of the political madness and bask for a brief moment in a state of sensory calm. For the art lovers out there, we humbly suggest some of the mind-meltingly mellow Instagram accounts designed to de-stress and zen out, if only for 30 seconds.

Make yourself a hot cup of tea and focus your attention on things that matter, like calligraphy or sparkly slime. Behold 10 artsy Instagram accounts made to soothe your frenzied mind and get you through the next day intact. If these don’t do the trick ― well, there’s always Bob Ross.

Hate everything and everyone? How about some classic paint-mixing to ease that burning rage in your chest?! 

Not bad, right? You’re still clenching your teeth. Take a minute for yourself and dive deeper into the beautiful internet hole of paint-mixing videos. 

Not quite doing it for you? Take a look inside the process of making Vasari oil paints. And breathe, just breathe. 

Mmm, looks like purple molten chocolate. Have you stopped obsessively refreshing FiveThirtyEight yet? How about some meditative sand-chopping to distract you? We promise that it’s nice. 

Are you sand-isfied? Or still agonizing about the future of women and people of color in this country? OK, check out these dizzying patterns of dripping ink. Just like a warm bath for the eyes... 

Soothing, right? How about some “bloom paintings”? They blossom like painted flowers before your very eyes! 

Ah, yes, peace at last. No, don’t refresh your Twitter feed! Check out these swirling, sparkly paints instead. Do! Not! Refresh! 

You digging those sparkles? Let’s add some slime. Everyone loves sooothing slime. 

That’s right ― breathe in, breathe out. Feeling zen yet? Let’s finish the job with some tranquil pottery. 

Why does it feel so good? Let’s cap off this gentle massage of the eyeballs with some digital mandala drawing because, wow, we’re so relaxed we lost our train of thought.