Artists usually like to attend the opening of their exhibitions but the painter of the works that went on display at a gallery in Helsinki on Tuesday preferred to carry on hibernating.

The artist behind the exhibition entitled “Strong and soft touches” is a 423-kilogram (930 pound) brown bear named Juuso who uses his body, especially his paws, as paintbrushes.

“We just leave paint for him, some plywood and paper ... If we ask him to do it, he doesn’t do anything. He does all the work in his own time, when he’s alone, sitting and moving his legs on the paper,” said Pasi Jantti, one of his keepers.

Juuso, who is 17 years old, favors blue and red, the keeper said, adding that the paints used posed no health risk to the bear.

His keepers discovered Juuso’s artistic bent one day while painting some facilities at Kuusamo animal center in northern Finland where he has been living since being orphaned as a cub.

“Juuso got some paint in his paws and started to make marks with them. We noticed that he liked it,” Jantti said.

The center raised about $8,500 by selling 15 paintings produced by Juuso. The exhibition now opening at the Rupla gallery in Helsinki features 11 pieces of original work and some prints sell for as much as $4,281.

Some of the paintings still feature bits of Juuso’s fur. Funds raised from the exhibition will be used to make a documentary about bears.

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Oscar ballots were due last week, so the race is officially over, at least as far as nominations are concerned. This lengthy awards season has seen a few unlikely films become heavyweights, but can anything beat original pacesetter “La La Land”? As Heidi Klum says on “Project Runway,” “One day you’re in, and the next you’re out.” So who’s in? And which studios’ expensive campaigns came up short?

By my humble estimation, we’re looking at a nine-nominee Best Picture roster. (Remember the category can honor anywhere between five and 10 titles. It’s all about math.) Based on the precursor trajectory, expect “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Hidden Figures,” “Arrival,” “Fences,” “Lion,” “Hell or High Water” and “Hacksaw Ridge.”

Of course, nothing is a done deal until the nominations arrive Jan. 24, and a smattering of movies are hoping to kick those front-runners aside. Here’s a ranking of the contenders. 

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It can be overwhelming to confront a blank poster head on, trying to select the one message that you most want to share with the masses during a march or protest. Thankfully, Molly Crabapple has your back. 

The artist, journalist and activist has created four free, downloadable and printable posters, each featuring the wise words of an iconic writer. The images were originally meant for last weekend’s “literary protest,” led by famous writers including Laurie Anderson, Robert Pinsky, Masha Gessen and Art Spiegelman, held on the steps of the New York Public Library. 

Protesters were emboldened by the thoughts of some of history’s most impactful scribes, including Audre Lorde and James Baldwin, thanks to Crabapple’s painted words. The posters, still available through Crabapple’s website, will be just as relevant to those marching this weekend to protest President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, whether participating in the Women’s March on Washington or many of the other protests taking place around the country. 

Crabapple has long expressed her opinion, through both her written reporting and searing illustrations, concerning Trump and the terrifying ramifications of his presidential run. In 2014 she wrote about confronting Trump with a challenging question during a press conference in Dubai, which he ignored. More recently, she’s discussed the circus that was his campaign, breaking down how he appeals to his followers and why. 

The latter piece ends, however, with a call to arms for dissenters nationwide. For a politician’s power, no matter how valuable or dangerous she or he may be, cannot compare to the potential of an activated populous. As Crabapple put it: “Real politics belong in the streets.”

On that note, many are taking to the streets this weekend to make their opinions on the president-elect known loud and clear. If you’re one of them, and are having trouble stating your case, let Junot Diaz or Suheir Hammad help you out. 

Check out other options for artist-made protest posters here and here. 

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Warning: This article features some rather explicit artwork and is not appropriate for work. Including the image below. 

The 2016 presidential campaign was without a doubt the most explicit in our nation’s history. The American public learned far more than it asked for about the size of President-elect Donald Trump’s penis, his attraction to his daughter Ivanka and his penchant for grabbing women “by the pussy” without their consent. And of course, after Trump was elected, the unsubstantiated report of his proclivity for golden showers emerged. 

When a group of concerned artists banded together to express their fears about Trump’s upcoming presidency, specifically his threats to overturn Roe vs. Wade and defund Planned Parenthood, they opted to communicate in a visual language Trump is sure to understand. A group exhibition called “Hands Off My Cuntry” features erotic artwork addressed to the president-elect, proving there is nothing wrong with a dirty mind as long as you keep your conscience clean.

Inauguration season has surely seen a rise in group art exhibitions addressing Trump’s controversial history of degrading and objectifying women. Last week, the “Nasty Women” show in New York City featured the work of 700 women artists responding to Trump’s infamous debate insult. (Organizers donated $42,500 in proceeds from art sales to Planned Parenthood.) Another ongoing show, “Uprise aka Angry Women,” features “the work of female contemporary artists responding to the current social and political climate in America in light of the recent presidential election.” (It will channel a percentage of proceeds to Era Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality.)

Yet no other timely art exhibition gets nearly as naughty as “Hands Off My Cuntry.” Alexandra Rubinstein’s “Thank You Obama,” on view in the show, features our 44th president peering out from between a woman’s naked legs. From his focused gaze, one can only assume Barack applies the same attention and care he afforded our nation to the act of pleasuring a woman. 

“Sexuality is just another extension of the behavior we expect of women,” Rubinstein explained in an earlier interview with HuffPost. “I think it’s important to recognize that it’s not innately timid, selfless or non-existent.”

Artist Courtney Frances Fallon’s photo “You Light Up My Life” appears, from first glance, to zoom in on a woman smoking a cigarette. Further inspection, however, reveals the image depicts another set of lips entirely. There is also work from the artist known as Jones the Savage, who has been selling dirty portraits of Donald Trump on his website for just $3, meant to be gifted to lucky recipients like Kellyanne Conway or Steve Bannon. Jones’ submitted piece, elegantly titled “Dickhead,” illustrates the president-elect with a large, veiny member drooping over his face. 

If you feel like the work on view doesn’t quite fit the somber vibes the country is giving off right about now, that’s exactly the point. “I feel that because the mood is so dark right now I needed to reflect that,” Savannah Spirit, who curated the exhibition, explained in an interview with Dazed. “In turn, I challenged myself to pick work that was hard for me to look at. If it challenged me I knew that I needed to put it in. I also feel that the best way to deal with a crisis is humor. We live in a topsy-turvy world and I wanted the show to reflect the dichotomy.” 

Off the heels of an election that has often felt like basically one big joke, Spirit’s sentiment feels fitting. And despite the proudly crass work that appears in the show, the message behind all the boobs and butts is of the utmost significance. As the exhibition statement put it: “The last thing we need is America to take a big step back. Going forward is the only way.” 

“Hands Off My Cuntry” is on view until Sunday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. at Undercurrent Projects in New York. 

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Janet Mock wrote a poignant essay explaining why it’s integral that sex workers’ rights be included in the values that anchor the Women’s March on Washington. 

According to a Tumblr post Mock published on Tuesday, the author and transgender activist helped create the march’s beautifully intersectional policy platform. That platform includes the guiding principles of the march and what it will represent. The four-page agenda, which has reportedly been edited since it was published last week, originally included the line: “Undocumented and migrant workers must be included in our labor protections, and we stand in solidarity with sex workers’ rights movements.” 

In her Tumblr post, Mock explains that she authored that line which has since been changed to read: “We stand in solidarity with the sex workers’ rights movement. We recognize that exploitation for sex and labor in all forms is a violation of human rights.” According to writer Melissa Gira Grant the line was edited multiples times in the span of 24 hours. At one point the line was edited to only include: “We recognize that exploitation for sex and labor in all forms is a violation of human rights.”  

I know sex work to be work. It’s not something I need to tiptoe around. It’s not a radical statement. It’s a fact.

Although the present draft of the agenda includes Mock’s original line, the writer, TV host and activist wrote a piece on Tumblr explaining why that line is so essential.

“It is not a statement that is controversial to me because as a trans woman of color who grew up in low-income communities and who advocates, resists, dreams and writes alongside these communities, I know that underground economies are essential parts of the lived realities of women and folk,” Mock wrote. “I know sex work to be work. It’s not something I need to tiptoe around. It’s not a radical statement. It’s a fact.” 

Mock explained that her feminism rejects the notion that sex workers “need to be saved” or that they are “colluding with the patriarchy by ‘selling their bodies.’” 

She also addressed the edits made to the march’s policy platform: 

I cannot speak to the internal conflicts at the Women’s March that have led to the erasure of the line I wrote for our collective vision but I have been assured that the line will remain in OUR document. The conflicts that may have led to its temporary editing will not leave until we, as feminists, respect THE rights of every woman and person to do what they want with their body and their lives.

Mock ended her essay on a powerful note, writing: “There are no throwaway people, and I hope every sex worker who has felt shamed by this momentary erasure shows up to their local March and holds the collective accountable to our vast, diverse, complicated realities.”

Head over to Tumblr to read Mock’s full essay. 

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A+E Networks’ President and CEO Nancy Dubuc says she’s gotten flak from the Scientology community thanks to Leah Remini’s scorched-earth docuseries in a keynote speech Tuesday.

Speaking at a Miami conference for the National Association of Television Program Executives, Dubuc said she was targeted on social media after the release of “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” on A&E, Variety reports. 

“My Facebook feed is all anti-Leah,” Dubuc said. “They must be buying my profile. My friends think it’s wild, like, ‘What did you do?’”

The organization didn’t go easy on “King of Queens” actress Remini, either, even creating a website dedicated to discrediting claims she has made in the series. Remini spent more than 30 years in the group before leaving, and has since dedicated herself to recording those experiences, largely painting them in a negative light.

Scientology’s disapproval of the A&E docuseries didn’t hurt ratings, however — Remini’s show gave the network its top premiere ratings in two years.

“We’re very proud of her. It’s a courageous thing to do,” Dubuc said of the actress, per The Hollywood Reporter.

The network seems to be drawn to controversial social topics and shadowy organizations.

At the event, Dubuc also addressed A&E’s canceled docuseries that would have centered around the Ku Klux Klan hate group and individuals’ efforts to break away from it. Originally slated to premiere in January, the project drew ire from many who believed it would give hate speech a nationwide platform and risk normalizing the group’s reprehensible views. Some KKK members furthered the controversy by claiming producers paid them to fabricate scenes that would fit into the show’s narrative.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Dubuc said, per THR. “We’re not sure yet where the issues really lay. Clearly there are some issues there.” She went on to add that “stricter guidelines” were needed regarding production of shows.

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It was the summer of 2016 and molecular and cellular biologist/multidisciplinary artist Ashley Baccus-Clark was gifting herself a day of self-care. The police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile had left her, like so many black Americans, anguished and weary. She tried to ease her heartache by visiting Storm King, the 500-acre sculpture park in upstate New York where hulking man-made forms dwell among rolling green fields. 

Because it was summer, Baccus-Clark packed some sunscreen for the journey. But after applying the milky substance to her face, she was left with a purple residue caked atop her flesh, a subtle reminder that, even with something as mundane as sun protection, people of color are too often disregarded.

“Women of color have to modify products to fit who they are as people,” Baccus-Clark explained in an interview with The Huffington Post at New Inc, an incubator attached to and led by the New Museum. “Why should I have to spend my time and energy worrying about something like sunscreen? There is so much technology designed by POC [people of color] that isn’t made without POC in mind.” 

She decided, then, to make some sheer sunscreen herself. And that simple, low-tech solution led to the monumental, virtual reality project “Neurospeculative Afrofeminism.”

Baccus-Clark is one member of Hyphen-Labs, a team of international women who combine art and technology to represent, protect and honor women of color. The team, who have worked together since 2014, also includes Carmen Aguilar y Wedge, an engineer and artist from Cuba; Ece Tankal, an architect, moving image maker and multidisciplinary designer from Turkey; and Nitzan Bartov, an architect, game designer and artist from Israel.

With one foot grounded in contemporary reality and another in an imagined future, Hyphen-Labs renders both physical products and virtual reality narratives that specifically cater to black women. For the physical aspect of “Neurospeculative Afrofeminism,” Hyphen-Labs engineered a variety of beauty products and accessories designed for women of color, manifesting the belief that self-care is more than just a luxury but a means of survival. A sunscreen safe for dark skin was object one. 

Along with the sunscreen, the artists pioneered the prototype for a visor with a dichroic reflective surface that allows its wearers to see but not be seen. The incandescent head gear is meant for scenarios where people of color enter a predominately white space. Instead of code-switching ― or shifting their self-presentation in order to blend in ― the visor reflects any antagonistic gazes back at the watcher. The accessory symbolizes, as the artists explain, “that what we fear most is often a reflection of ourselves.” 

For their third product, Hyphen-Labs designed a pair of earrings that function as cameras and recording devices, meant to document both micro- and macro-aggressions in a safe and discrete manner. The jewelry responds to the failure of dashboard cameras and bodycams to accurately capture the ambiguous encounters through which black lives are lost without satisfactory explanation. While phones are often confiscated when they would be most useful, the earrings offer an inconspicuous and, in fact, really cute way to chronicle what POC endure on a daily basis.  

While some of the Hyphen-Labs products help users survey their environment, others are meant to protect them from what the lab has identified as systematic surveillance employed by government officials. Collaborating with privacy artist Adam Harvey, the team created a silk headscarf whose pattern triggers facial recognition software to the point of overwhelming it. If at a protest, for example, hundreds of people wore the scarf, the cameras would be so triggered by the textiles they would shut down.

The idea for the headscarf emerged when Hyphen-Labs’ Ece Tankal, wearing a necklace with an eye pendant, was playing with Snapchat filters, and the app’s facial recognition software mistook Tankal’s necklace for a human eye. She wrapped herself in their carefully designed headscarf during our interview while Carmen tried to Snapchat a picture. The phone bugged out, as little puppy dog filter faces quickly popped up and disappeared all over the scarf’s fabric on the iPhone screen. 

The artists’ final product is called “The Octavia.” Its technology riffs off high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique which uses electrical currents to stimulate regions of the brain. The procedure is currently used to alleviate depression and anxiety in patients, as well as to optimize a user’s mind by augmenting memory to increase creativity and work flow. In Hyphen-Labs’ take, the electrodes are combined with self-cleaning natural hair extensions in order to be weaved into textured or natural hair. 

It is this final product that is at the core of the second aspect of “Neurospeculative Afrofeminism,” a virtual reality experience premiering at Sundance’s New Frontier Art festival on Jan. 20. The immersive film takes place at a “Neurocosmetology” lab ― think futuristic hair salon ― owned by a woman named Brooks. The setting alludes to the long history of salons as safe spaces for women of color and fertile ground for political and philosophical discussion.

As the viewer, after putting on your Oculus Rift helmet, you’re plunked into a chair in Brooks’ salon, ready to receive your Octavia electrodes ― aimed to increase your neuroplasticity. Your first view is of yourself in the mirror, as a black woman with long pigtail braids. This, in itself, is a powerful gesture, allowing people of all races and genders to physically see themselves as a woman of color, virtually stepping into the skin of another. 

The products from Hyphen-Labs’ line are strewn about the virtual salon setting, confusing the space between real and imagined futures. While Brooks prepares you for your extensions, she chats with Naima, the salon matriarch, their conversation smoothly teetering between topics of ancient tradition and futuristic fantasy.

Before Brooks inserts the Octavia, she warns there may be some intense visuals when the electrodes hit. Moments later, you are floating in a 3D hallucinatory dreamscape with mountains made of water and a giant eye hovering in the sky. It’s the kind of fully transportive experience that can only occur in VR, a technology that allows you to float through a dreamed-up world. 

Although the viewer doesn’t actually receive Octavia electrode implants during the VR experience, the effect of the 10-minute art piece is intense. Even the simulation of receiving the extensions is palpable. The Hyphen-Labs team intends to examine just how palpable, with plans to eventually conduct anthropological and neuroscientific research on whether or not experiencing the VR piece changes how viewers engage with the world. 

“We are afraid of what we don’t know,” Aguilar y Wedge explained to The Huffington Post. “By simulating engagement [with women of color], we are trying to lower fear and prejudice.” Eventually, the women hope to conduct mobile functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans on viewers while they encounter the artwork to determine if VR has a measurable effect on the brain. 

Hyphen-Labs also hopes to use the work to introduce communities to VR who might not otherwise have access to the emergent technology. The artists hope that by seeing familiar characters represented in the work, young women of color will be inspired to pursue science and tech themselves. “Where are all the black women in neuroscience?” Baccus-Clark asked. “As Marian Wright Edelman said, ‘It’s hard to be what you can’t see.’” 

The necessity of black representation in film and art have made their way into the public consciousness, belatedly, in the past few years. In both arenas, it’s equally valuable to see people of color both on view and behind the scenes, as actor or image and artist, director, producer, etc. In the realm of VR, there are additional opportunities to identify and empathize with people of color. 

“It’s about world building,” Aguilar y Wedge added. “This world is built for black women, but all are welcome.” The technology physically positions viewers in situations they may not otherwise encounter, not only engaging with people of color but feeling like one themselves. Many believe VR has more potential than any other medium to dispel racial bias. 

However, the strong emotions VR is known for inducing are not necessarily positive. Many have written about experiencing the “empathy machine” gone haywire, with some narratives provoking anger or hatred in the viewer instead of compassion, yielding the opposite of the intended effect. VR artists like Nonny de la Peña are known for dropping the viewer into gut-wrenching and difficult scenarios, such as domestic assault. But Hyphen-Labs seems less concerned with heated narratives and more with the simple gesture of making visible what often is not, letting the viewer come to her own conclusions. 

There are plenty of other prejudices the women of Hyphen-Labs are also out to eliminate. The belief, for example, that beauty products are of lesser import than high science. “They are both things that we value,” Baccus-Clark said. Or that advancements in the physical world are more legitimate than those built in the realm of art or fantasy. 

“Neurospeculative Afrofeminism” premieres this weekend at Sundance, overlapping with the presidential inauguration. The artists believe their work offers a potent antidote to the small-minded world approach of the president-elect, although the issues and inequalities Hyphen-Labs addresses plagued American culture long before Donald Trump was in the picture.

For the artists, the inauguration offers a moment to reflect on many of the longstanding prejudices that America has tried to sweep out of sight. Now is the perfect moment to confront the wounds of our country, and finally, truly, begin to heal. In the face of ignorance, bigotry and ego, Hyphen-Labs serves up radical optimism, self-care, education, awareness and acceptance, through objects as mundane as sunscreen and as otherworldly as a hand-crafted alternate reality. 

“We want to subvert victimization,” Aguilar y Wedge said. “The only limit is our imagination.”

“Neurospeculative Afrofeminism” will run Friday, Jan. 20, through Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, from 1 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Jan.28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Claim Jumper in Park City, as part of Sundance’s New Frontier Art. 

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The incoming Trump administration hasn’t deterred Alicia Keys from her fight for social equality. 

In an interview with Allure magazine published on Tuesday, the multi-Grammy winning songstress and dedicated activist said she plans on continuing to use her artistry to advocate for social justice throughout Trump’s presidency.

“As an artist, I expect to continue to use my voice for things that matter, as I have since the beginning of my career,” Keys asserted. “That won’t change.”

Although Keys said she was upset that Trump’s vocalized prejudice didn’t cost him the election, she said she still has faith in our future.

“I have a hope that President Trump, as a New Yorker, will have more liberal views than his campaign rhetoric suggests and that in the end our system of justice will prevail,” Keys said.

For those that feel threatened under Trump’s presidency, Keys said her “We Are Here” organization ― a non-profit she founded in 2014 ― “will stand in support of Hispanics, refugees, people of color, Muslims, and anyone who feels afraid.” 

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The only words uttered in the trailer for “The Discovery” are “People are just gonna keep killing themselves.” Enticed? You should be.

Possibly sensing the apocalypse is nigh, Netflix snatched up distribution rights for “The Discovery” last summer. The streaming service released the movie’s first trailer Wednesday, two days before its Sundance Film Festival premiere. “The Discovery” presents a dystopian world where the afterlife has been confirmed, prompting waves of people to commit suicide in hopes of getting there sooner. 

Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Jesse Plemons, Robert Redford, Riley Keough and Ron Canada star in the film, which is the latest from “The One I Love” director Charlie McDowell. “The Discovery” hits Netflix on March 31.

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A new video from the Ms. Foundation for Women is sure to give you chills.

The two-minute clip titled “Votes For Women” was published on Wednesday afternoon in advance of the historic Women’s March on Washington set to take place this Saturday. The powerful video features excerpts from iconic speeches from activists including Shirley Chisholm, Gloria Steinem and Carrie Chapman Catt. 

As viewers listen to the riveting words, images of women from all walks of life wearing the iconic purple sash that the suffragists wore flash across the screen. According to Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, a suffragist and editor of the early 1900s newspaper Votes For Women, purple symbolized "the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity." 

“I have faith in the American people. I believe that we are smart enough to correct our mistakes,” Chisholm says in her 1972 speech for her presidential bid, featured in the video. “I believe that we are intelligent enough to recognize the talent, energy and dedication which all Americans ― including women and minorities ― have to offer."

President and CEO at the Ms. Foundation Teresa C. Younger explained in a press release that the organization released the video as a rally crying to stand united against President-elect Donald Trump and his dangerous rhetoric and alarming actions before, during, and after his presidentialcampaign.  

“As we prepare for the inauguration of President-elect Trump, the Ms. Foundation for Women stands ready to lead the fight for equity and justice,” Younger said. “We will fight against any attempt by state houses, Congress or this Administration to limit rights or freedoms in our country; particularly the rights of those most marginalized.”

As Steinem said in her 1972 Address to the Women of America, which is excerpted in the video: “This is no simple reform, it really is a revolution.” 

We could not agree more.  

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News that Neil Patrick Harris would be taking on the role of Count Olaf in Netflix’s series treatment of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” was certainly met with some skepticism. Few actors who thrive in lovable ― or lovably despicable ― roles can make a convincing foray into the darker territory inhabited by author Lemony Snicket’s (aka Daniel Handler’s) villain.

But Harris’ performance has been received warmly, and the two actors who play the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans, Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes, can see why. He successfully juggles the demands of playing a morally bankrupt guardian who takes on various disguises in a show while staying true to the source material, with its black sense of humor.

“Neil really outdid himself,” 15-year-old Hynes, who plays the studious Klaus, told The Huffington Post. “He’s got the perfect mix between the sinister and the menacing Count Olaf, which the books really describe.”

“He has to play so many characters but still be Count Olaf,” said 13-year-old Weissman, who plays eldest-sibling Violet, whom the actress described as a “role model” figure because of the fact that “she stands up for what she believes in and takes care of her siblings.”

Of course, both young actors say they learned a bunch from the veteran of Broadway and network TV. But they also learned from the script. 

Like the books, “Unfortunate Events” takes time to define words in their context. Sometimes that’s for the presumed benefit of the Baudelaires ― who are much too clever to not know what they mean ― and sometimes it’s for the benefit of the reader. (The series is, after all, targeted to young adults, who likely know many of the words and don’t appreciate being condescended to, either.)

The younger of the two, Weissman, admitted to not knowing certain words in the script, and “learning a lot” from looking them up. For Hynes, the script gave him something of a “re-appreciation” of language, particularly in scenes where the Baudelaires use it to get themselves out of sticky situations.

“I think it really reminds you of the importance of what you say,” Hynes said.

“A Series of Unfortunate Events” is now streaming on Netflix.

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It’s no surprise that when Portland, Oregon, police posted a photo of a murder, it went viral ― even if it was a murder of crows.

But really, what would you prefer to look at? Some grisly photo of a homicide, or this gorgeous shot of a murder of crows (that’s the traditional term for a group of crows) sitting atop snowy trees? 

That’s what we thought. 

The photographer was Walker Berg, a criminologist for the department’s forensic evidence division, and his striking image has received overwhelming praise on Facebook.

While the large numbers of crows make for a cool, almost otherworldly photo, some Portland residents view the birds as a nuisance. In the winter, crows flock to downtown Portland in huge numbers before taking off in the spring. That means that for the colder months, part of the city is covered in crow droppings.

This year, Portland has enlisted trained hawks and falcons to help scare the crows from the downtown area.

It’s unclear if the predator plan will work, since crows are notoriously smart. Like, “rivaling chimps” smart.

OK, so maybe we’re a little on Team Crow here. But we do feel bad for the people tasked with cleaning up their poop.

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History has proven that the film industry can whittle a movie out of pretty much anything ― a board game, an amusement part ride, those spunky dolls with haunting eyes. But it appears Hollywood has set its sights on its most unlikely subject matter yet ― a ‘90s illustrator known for a brand of stickers, stationary and folders. 

Yes, my children of the ‘90s, a Lisa Frank movie is coming. Time to dig out the ol’ trapper keeper and kiss those little puppy labradors all over, or however you want to celebrate! 

Variety broke the news that the iconic (and notoriously private) illustrator Frank is collaborating with producer Jon Shestack to bring her neon-drenched world to life on screen. Even better news is that the movie ― ahem, film ― will be “a live-action and animation hybrid,” in the style of another arthouse classic, “Space Jam.”  

No word yet on what exactly the plot will entail, but personally I’m hoping for a non-narrative meditation on the transformative powers of hallucinogens. Or a love story between those dolphins who intertwine their bodies to form a heart! 

Whatever Frank provides, we will happily accept. Luckily, she’s been thinking about this whole movie thing for a while now. “I have always wanted to do a feature film that brings the world of Lisa Frank to life,” she told Variety. “We have so much backstory on our characters and they have been alive in my imagination since the beginning.”

While much of civilized life as we know it seems to be hurdling toward an untimely end, it’s at least comforting to know an avalanche of anthropomorphized, rainbow creatures with an open attitude regarding inter-species love are here to make life a little bit brighter. 

Hit Backspace for a regular dose of pop culture nostalgia.

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Donald Trump’s had a tumultuous relationship with books.

There are the dozens he’s written ― the one that tells you how to “think like a billionaire,” the one that’s very misogynistic, another on simply “how to get rich.”

But when the president-elect/real estate mogul isn’t writing books, what is he reading? 

In an interview published today on Axios, co-founders Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei asked Trump that very question. In what is easily the most Brick-in-real-life situation possible, Trump started pointing at random books, saying, “I like that.”

You can read the whole exchange in this tweet:

The book he’s referencing in that exchange is Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything by Thomas Lake ― a book being published by CNN Politics. 

This is absurd for several reasons. For one, Trump has openly referred to CNN as “fake news” in just the past few weeks. Secondly, this book is about him. It is the most Trumpian thing ever for him to say that the book he’s reading is one about himself.

We’re just surprised he didn’t recommend his book The Art of the Deal, which he seems to recommend to everyone on Twitter. 

Oh man. We’re all screwed, aren’t we? 

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Imagine Annette Bening’s dulcet voice guiding you through life. Billy Crudup knows what that’s like firsthand, as evidenced in the above clip from “20th Century Women.” The scene ― exclusive to The Huffington Post and its parent company, AOL ― features Bening as a single mother in 1979 California and Crudup as a handyman renting a room in the boarding house she runs. 

“20th Century Women,” one of 2016’s best movies, expands to wide release on Friday.

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Warning: The video above might be unsuitable for certain viewers. 

After seeing a press screening of “A Dog’s Purpose,” an upcoming film based on the best-selling novel by W. Bruce Cameron, I was floored by the animals’ abilities to do things that seemed impossible. Now, it’s a little easier to understand why.

In a video obtained by TMZ and posted on Wednesday, a crew member or trainer for the film is seen forcing a German Shepherd to perform a “stunt” that seems extremely unsafe ― so much so as to call into question how animals were handled over the entire course of the film’s shooting. 

In the final version of the movie, the police dog appears to bravely rescue a young girl after she falls into a rushing river. But in the behind-the-scenes clip ― which was shot outside of Winnipeg, Canada, in November 2015 ― a trainer is seen pushing the scared German Shepherd into a rough pool of water as he tries to claw his way out. After much resistance, the dog eventually gets into the water, but ends up being submerged for so long that handlers yelled, “Cut it!” 

At the start of the video, a person also can be heard saying, “Don’t worry, it’s warm water at least.”

According to TMZ, director Lasse Hallström was present when the scene was filmed. At least one crew member expressed concern over the dog’s treatment.

Amblin Partners and Universal Pictures, the companies behind the movie, shared a statement with TMZ after watching the video.

“Fostering a safe environment and ensuring the ethical treatment of our animal actors was of the utmost importance to those involved in making this film and we will look into the circumstances surrounding this video,” the statement read. 

The Huffington Post has reached out for further comment. 

“A Dog’s Purpose,” which debuts on Jan. 27, stars Britt Robertson, Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad’s voice. 

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Last week, Donald Trump tweeted spurious claims about Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), writing that the activist, who’s been repeatedly arrested for protesting, was “All talk, talk, talk ― no action or results.”

“Sad!” the president-elect continued. 

If you’re interested in reading about Lewis’ past accomplishments, there’s plenty of available material. But he also continues to spread his message today, via both words and action. Last year, March: Book Three, a graphic novel co-written by Lewis, was awarded the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, a feat that he responded to with a speech about being turned away by a public library when he was 16, only to continue his quest to educate himself.

Since Trump’s accusations, sales of Lewis’ book have gone up, earning it several of the bestselling slots on Amazon.

If that’s not evidence enough of tangible influence, maybe this is: Today, March: Book Three received another award, one that will put the graphic novel in the hands of young readers. Ron Charles reported for The Washington Post that the book was given the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. As a result, 2,000 copies will be donated to “U.S. schools with limited budgets.”

Lewis told Charles: “It is my hope that [the award] will inspire more people to read and to use their pen to inspire another generation to speak up and speak out.”

Talk, action, results: Lewis gracefully demonstrates how the three can be interwoven.

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WASHINGTON ― The Supreme Court tends to take a skeptical view whenever the government polices speech it doesn’t like. But what if the government simply denies a trademark that it deems offensive to a racial or ethnic group?

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office did exactly that when it rejected a trademark application from The Slants, an Asian-American band that aims to promote its name and music to tear down racial stereotypes — and maybe even stick it to a certain Washington football team the band’s leader is not very fond of.

But to offend fellow Asian-Americans? Perish the thought.

The justices on Wednesday wrestled with whether a provision of trademark law that tells the federal trademark office to not give its seal of approval to names that “may disparage” others is consistent with the First Amendment. An appeals court that specializes in trademark disputes concluded that it doesn’t, and it struck down the provision as unconstitutional “viewpoint discrimination.”

The issue is a fascinating one, in part because of the scores of advocates on both sides of this controversy who are throwing their hats in the ring. Native American groups, for one, support the government, which in 2014 also canceled a little football trademark that now finds its owner, Daniel Snyder, rooting for The Slants. The band’s case may save or doom the team’s chances at keeping “Redskins.”

The Obama administration, on its last day of legal arguments before the next regime takes over, said nothing in the trademark provision prevents The Slants from using the name, let alone impede its music or message. Instead, the government’s lawyer said, the anti-disparagement provision “places a reasonable limit on access to a government program” that “does not violate the First Amendment.”

But some of the justices didn’t seem so convinced, or at least seemed to be playing devil’s advocate. Chief Justice John Roberts called the government’s argument “circular,” and Justice Stephen Breyer had questions about the “purpose” of a law that tells the powers that be what’s good and what isn’t.

“I can think probably of ... perhaps 50,000 examples of instances where the space the trademark provides is used for very distracting messages,” Breyer said, later adding, “What business does Congress have picking out this one but letting all the other distractions exist?”

Justice Elena Kagan, one of the more active questioners on the bench, took issue with what appears to be the government’s censorious view on trademarks it deems negative but not with those it deems positive.

The law “precludes disparagement of Democrats and Republicans alike, and so forth and so on,” Kagan said, “but it makes a very important distinction, which is that you can say good things about some person or group but you can’t say bad things about some person or group.”

“The point is that I can say good things about something, but I can’t say bad things about something,” she added. “And I would have thought that that was a fairly classic case of viewpoint discrimination.”

If the Supreme Court were to find that the trademark office is engaging in such discrimination — and a bevy of free-speech and business advocates suggest that it is — then the law violates the First Amendment.

But does it? Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested that The Slants’ music and message “are not being burdened in any traditional way” because they can still do everything a band does — even sue another band for appropriating its name — except without a trademark.

“No one is stopping your client from calling itself The Slants,” she told the Portland, Oregon, band’s lawyer, John Connell. “No one is stopping them from advertising themselves that way, or signing contracts that way or engaging in any activity, except that stopping someone else from using the same trademark.”

Asked by Breyer whether the government could deny a trademark calling someone a name or a food product lethal, Connell took a hard-line approach and said no. But that exposed a limit to The Slants’ argument.

“Oh, my goodness,” Breyer exclaimed. “There are laws all over the place that stop you from saying that a competitor … has bad products. It’s called product disparagement. There are laws all over the place that stop you from saying Joe Jones is a jerk or something more specific. They’re called libel laws or slander laws. But you’re saying the government couldn’t do that?”

If the Supreme Court decides that a trademark shouldn’t be treated like “speech in a public park,” as Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested, and instead is just a government program that may freely avoid certain racial and ethnic slurs, then The Slants would lose.

But in other ways, The Slants will have already won.

With or without the trademark, it would not be a stretch to say that the indie band has garnered more press for what it stands for than many others in its field. And it even has a song to show for it.

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Irish step dancer Michael Flatley, creator of “Lord of the Dance,” will perform at the Liberty Ball on Friday, according to TMZ.

The event is one of three official inaugural balls planned to honor the incoming president, Donald Trump, whose team has had a reportedly difficult time finding entertainers to fit inauguration programs. They eventually succeeded, however, in locking in a selection of musicians and entertainers.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Missouri State University Chorale and the United States Marine Band will perform at Trump and Mike Pence’s swearing-in ceremony, which will be capped off by a national anthem performance by 16-year-old “America’s Got Talent” singer Jackie Evancho.

In addition to Liberty, the newly anointed President Trump will attend the Freedom Ball and the Salute to Our Armed Services Ball. Between those will be an eclectic smattering of performers: The Rockettes (although not those dancers who wish to abstain for personal political reasons), gospel singer Travis Greene, YouTube quartet The Piano Guys, soul singer Sam Moore, ‘70s hit singer Tony Orlando and 14-year-old singer Lexi Walker, among others.

Tim Rushlow & His Big Band will reportedly play a Frank Sinatra tune, “My Way,” for Trump’s first dance as president with his wife, Melania. Responding to that news, Sinatra’s daughter Nancy Sinatra tweeted a quick-witted response: “Just remember the first line of the song.”

The first line, of course, goes, “And now, the end is near.”

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Shrewd, deliberate, unsentimental. These are, apparently, the qualities we value in a fictional detective, as evidenced by the fan communities devoted to Sherlock Holmes, which seem only ever to be growing. 

Clear-eyed, but not full-hearted, Holmes is the antithesis of all things post-truth, which might be why his stories are still celebrated today in spite of being over a century old. There’s an appetite for blunt, truth-telling iconoclasm. 

But in the BBC’s adaptation of the detective stories, another factor is at play. Over the course of the series’ four seasons, Sherlock has grown from charmingly priggish and work-obsessed into someone who actually cares about the people he surrounds himself with, a relatable human with a superhuman mind. 

And last week, his character arc culminated in an episode that trumpeted the value of “emotional context” as an important component of crime-solving, a complement to fact collecting.

Fans of the detective will tell you that his character, at least as played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is gifted with a rare ability to suspend emotional value judgments in favor of clear-headed, objective deductions. When a desperate man or woman walks into his office at 221B Baker Street, he isn’t inclined to turn his nose up based on outward appearance; rather, he takes in information as a computer might, storing and analyzing without bias.

This trait led to seasons’ worth of impressive crime-solving, and scene after scene of Cumberbatch rattling off his deductions at a clip, wowing viewers, police officers, and his eventual sidekick, John Watson (Martin Freeman). A watch, a stain, a suntan ― anything was ripe for analysis. A man’s faded forearm tattoo clued him into precisely when the man became single, and whether the man still harbored feelings for his ex (he didn’t; if he was truly still heartbroken, he’d have finished getting the tattoo removed).

By the third season, the fast-paced crime-solving began to feel at its best like a parlor trick and at its worst like a mansplain-y attempt to claim that feeling individuals are less-than. It’s a tricky problem for a series that was founded on adventure, not character development. How can Sherlock Holmes be made as complex and interesting as the cases he cracks? For creators Steven Moffatt and Mark Gattis, the answer was simple: make him learn to feel. 

The series had been leading up to this. Over and over, Sherlock takes John, Mrs. Hudson and Molly Hooper for granted, the joke being that his personal insights are completely lacking. In Season 4, the fault becomes more than a farce; it gets in the way of the duo’s work, too. 

In “The Six Thatchers,” Watson’s wife, Mary, sacrifices her life for the sake of Sherlock’s, a move that leaves Watson bitter and avoidant toward his closest friend. In “The Lying Detective,” Sherlock pays it forward by giving himself over to a serial killer, putting his own life danger in order to will John out of his malaise. The key to solving the crime, then, is John’s realization that his friend’s concern for his well-being supersedes a selfish want for crime-solving thrills.

In “The Final Problem” ― an episode that, if the rumors are true, may be the last of the BBC series, or at least the last for a while ― emotional calculations prove to be as valuable as intellectual ones. We’ve learned at the close of the previous episode that Sherlock and Mycroft have a sister named Eurus (which means “the East Wind”) who’s cleverer than them both and doubly dangerous, too. Due to childhood violence and arson, she’s kept in a high-security prison. But, due to gifts bequeathed from Mycroft, including five minutes spent unsupervised with villain Moriarty, she takes over the entire facility, trapping the two brothers and Watson there for a series of tests. 

It becomes clear halfway through the episode that Eurus ― a sociopathic character who argues that closely followed personal mores are inherently selfish ― intends to make Sherlock kill either his brother or his best friend, using a gun with a single bullet. Unwilling to engage with such a cruel game, he angles the gun towards himself and counts down, demanding that Eurus ― who’s communicating with them via video ― set them free. And she does; his selflessness and ability to read the true intent underlying her words gets him out of hot water. And, his ability to empathize with Eurus’ perspective, as a woman who’s been locked up since childhood, winds up being central to the case. 

Had Sherlock stuck with his usual deductive process, Watson might’ve died. So, the show runners make their opinion clear: objective reasoning matters, but so does emotional context. And for all the series’ problems, it managed to use that message to construct an interesting character arc for a hero that’s been written and re-written into the ground.

In an interview with Vulture, Moffat said, “It would be the final stage of Sherlock learning to place some faith in his ability to make human connections. Obviously, the story of our series has been about Sherlock finding his way into that, starting to understand that all these things are not worthless, there are strengths to be gained from them.”

Is emotional context post-truth? Of course not. It’s a means of making the truth of facts more rigorous still, by considering not just numbers, but individuals; not just cause, but potential effect; not just what has happened, but what could.

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