Dev Patel has just been nominated for an Oscar. 

The star received a nod in the Actor in a Supporting Role category for his role in “Lion,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday. The Oscar nomination isn’t just noteworthy because it’s Patel’s first ― it also makes him only the third actor of Indian descent in history to receive one. 

It’s been over a decade since the last actor of Indian descent, Ben Kingsley, received a nod, Mic.com pointed out. Kingsley, who was nominated for his role in “House Of Sand And Fog,” has received four nominations in total, winning once. 

Merle Oberon, another actor of Indian descent, also received a nomination for her role in the 1935 film, “The Dark Angel.” However, Oberon attempted to conceal her heritage for much of her life. 

The few Indian actors with Oscar nods reflect the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood as well as the larger diversity issue in media. Asians nabbed only 3.9 percent of speaking roles in film ― a dramatic discrepancy from the amount white entertainers receive at 73.7 percent, a study on diversity within popular films from 2007–2015 revealed. 

So for now, Patel’s achievement is still an admirable feat. And it comes at a time when the actor’s been making headlines for his role. The “Lion” star and his film had drummed up buzz late last year, earning him a nod for the role at the Golden Globes in January. Though he didn’t win, the star still stole the show when he introduced his film with 8-year-old Sunny Pawar. 

Patel will have some stiff competition in the category, vying for the award alongside Mahershala Ali (”Moonlight”), Jeff Bridges (”Hell or High Water”), Lucas Hedges (”Manchester by the Sea”) and Michael Shannon (”Nocturnal Animals”). 

The ceremony will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on Feb. 26 and will air live on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET.

To check out the full list of of nominees, head here. 

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

SUVs, red meat, Jesus. If a dissenter’s view of Middle America were turned into a Bingo card, Kate Zambreno’s debut novel O Fallen Angel ― recently reissued by Harper Perennial ― would win the game a few pages in.

The short book has been described by Lidia Yuknavitch ― who also makes her political ideas known through her fiction and first published Zambreno in 2010 as part of her “Undoing the Novel” contest ― as a triptych. There are three main characters: Mommy, Maggie and Malachi.

Mommy is a Midwestern housewife who prioritizes her family life and expects her children to do the same. She willfully ignores anything unpleasant, including her own intrusive thoughts that may contradict her Catholic beliefs. Maggie, her daughter, is one of those unpleasant thoughts. After dropping out of college, she mostly spends her time sleeping with men who don’t return her affections, an affliction that leaves her depressed and without the support needed to pursue medical help. Malachi is a prophetic figure bearing a sign on the side of the highway, oscillating between self-aggrandizing delusions and genuine insight into the wasteful ways of passersby.

Each character is shown to us in a voice that’s uniquely Zambreno’s ― although it’s earned her comparisons to Kathy Acker and praise from Chris Kraus. Embracing the didactic language of parable while turning it on its head, Zambreno’s punchy, matter-of-fact, repetitive sentences belie repressed emotional truths. Much like the American value of pursuing objective “happiness,” the book intentionally makes use of a sunny sheen to gloss over Mommy, Maggie and Malachi’s self-doubt. The effect is a poetic visit to Middle America, one that’s more likely to expose hypocrisies than generate empathy.

If there’s anything critical to be said of Zambreno’s inventive work, it’s that she’s unconcerned with plot, with character development and with all of the usual tenants of storytelling. Her language enchants, but much of the story’s events are related in passive time, so that the habits of the characters are established but never challenged or deviated from. Mommy judges; Maggie broods. So, the story’s end might be unsatisfying for readers who yearn for closure ― or at least action.

Maggie’s never freed, even momentarily, of her youthful narcissism. Mommy’s never enlightened about the world beyond her pleasant, pastel-hued home. Neither is forced to reconcile her prejudices with the world beyond her own private space. And maybe that’s realistic; maybe we need a story like this to shed light how insular our ideological communities are.

But it might also be cynical, or at least untrue to how most of us live our lives. Amid the smartly mocked credos and playful language of O Fallen Angel, there’s no room for awkward family dinners or phone calls, no space for the tension between these polarized views to loosen, or finally snap. Instead, we’re invited to view a still of these characters’ lives, a snapshot that doesn’t imply movement.

Nevertheless, given what Zambreno’s accomplished since writing this book ― she’s written another celebrated novel, Green Girl, and an essay collection, Heroines ― it’s an impressive debut to look back on for its playfulness alone.

The bottom line

Original and lyrical, O Fallen Angel is centered on its ideas, not its story ― and that’s OK.  

Who wrote it

Kate Zambreno is the author of Green Girl and Heroines. 

Who will read it

Anyone interested in parables, subverted fairy tales and bold women writers.

What other reviewers think

Electric Literature: “Kate Zambreno’s O Fallen Angel dissects the willful blindness and rigid oppressiveness of contemporary American life.”

Bookslut: “What do you say about an American gospel that beats the shit out of you?”

Opening lines

“She is his Mrs. and he is her Mister the mommy and daddy the two of them forever and ever and ever they will never part they will never be apart except when Daddy has to go make the bread and she has to bake it.”

Notable passage

“Maggie writers in her Dear Dear Diary about herself vs. the world, but mostly she just writes about how much she misses Marlon Brando and all of his predecessors (and likely successors).

“The best way to get inside Maggie’s pants (heart) is to be withholding. Catholic girls crave denial. Remember that one night we were doing Ecstasy and we were so in love? she writes Marlon Brando. Maggie likes boys with a taste for sadism and Maker’s Mark on their tongue.”

O Fallen Angel
Kate Zambreno
Harper Perennial; Reprint edition, $14.99
Jan. 17

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

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

We are in the midst of a claque-roversy.

After President Donald Trump’s visit to the Central Intelligence Agency on Saturday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that CIA employees gave the new leader “a five-minute standing ovation at the end in a display of their patriotism and their enthusiasm for his presidency.”

Did they, though? people across the internet wondered.

CNN says yes, applause happened. CBS also says yes, applause happened. But, citing U.S. government sources, the latter suggests the cheering may have come from supporters invited by Trump, rather than from CIA employees. 

“[Authorities] say the first three rows in front of the president were largely made up of supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign,” CBS’ Jeff Pegues writes, adding that CIA’s senior leadership, also seated in the front rows, were not applauding.

The Washington Post eventually weighed in, pointing out that the alleged incident would not be the first time “Trump has engineered applause.” (According to WaPo and Politico, the president reportedly paid people to applaud him on this occasion and this one.)

And then, the internet watchdog of all internet watchdogs stepped into the “fake applause” fray. Yeah, we’re talking about the dictionary.

In a blog post, Merriam-Webster explained that there is indeed a word for a group of people hired to applaud someone. That word is “claque.”

M-W writes:

Claque means “a group hired to applaud at a performance” or “a group of sycophants.” A member of a claque can be called a claquer. People have been paid to show enthusiasm at performances since ancient times, and the practice went from Greece and Rome to France in the 18th and 19th centuries.

According to the dictionary, “claque” entered into English in the 1800s. The blog post provides an example of the word’s usage in The Scotsman in 1837: “A National Guard said he recollected having seen the man, and even speaking to him, at the Opera on Friday night last. The National Guard describes him as belonging to the claque, or hired applauders of the theatre.”

So, hiring claquers isn’t unheard of ― though M-W hardly confirmed the employment of them at the CIA. Instead, it reported that “claque” look-ups on M-W spiked not long after Trump’s CIA visit.

Do what you will with this information. And keep in mind: facts are important, but there are many other Trump-related controversies more pressing than this one. 

In other dictionary-related news, “carnage” was the top dictionary search on Trump’s inauguration day. So ...

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

About one month after Breitbart News editor, former Twitter bully and alt-right poster boy Milo Yiannopoulos inked a contentious $250,000 book deal, his publisher has issued a statement.

On Monday, Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy sent BuzzFeed News a letter explaining her company’s decision publish the book, titled Dangerous.

Reidy stresses in the letter that Simon & Schuster doesn’t “support or condone, nor publish hate speech” and that the company has taken the feedback it’s received seriously.

She goes on to say that the choice to work with Yiannopoulos was made independently by Threshold Editions, “without the involvement or knowledge” of other publishers at Simon & Schuster. 

Threshold signed the alt-right supporter on the pretense that his book “would be a substantive examination of the issues of political correctness and free speech,” Reidy states, adding that an “articulate discussion of these issues, coming from an unconventional source like Mr. Yiannopoulos, could become an incisive commentary on today’s social discourse.”

Because Threshold aims to publish works for a conservative audience, a book like Dangerous “would sit well within its scope and mission.”

Reidy ends the note insisting that while she appreciates the “strong opinions” the book has fueled and the debate over Yiannopoulos’ contract, final judgment “ultimately comes down to the text that is written.”

“And here I must reiterate that neither Threshold Editions nor any other of our imprints will publish books that we think will incite hatred, discrimination or bullying.”

When reached for comment, Yiannopoulos’ publicist Chad Wilkinson told The Huffington Post, “At this point we have nothing to add to the story.”

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

One bearded hunk, 30 lovely (mostly brunette) ladies, and four chances at love: It must be Nick Viall’s season as The Bachelor. 

This week, Claire Fallon and Emma Gray, along with guest and former “Bachelor” star Caila Quinn, talk shoveling cow poopy, the dangers of poor finger circulation, juicy corn cob ladies, and other outtakes from Episode 4 of the most shocking season in “Bachelor” history. Do you have the emotional maturity to handle a recap of this week’s episode? Whether you run a multimillion-dollar company or not, join us to find out:

Do people love “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” or do they love to hate these shows? It’s unclear. But here at “Here to Make Friends,” we both love and love to hate them — and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.

Follow Claire Fallon, Emma Gray, and guest Caila Quinn on Twitter. 

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

On this week’s episode of “The Bachelor” we learned a whole lot. We learned that Abe Lincoln and Michael Jordan love naps, that corn is all about the juicy kernels, and that not everyone quite understands what emotional intelligence means. The joys of when #alternativefacts meet reality TV. 

For more on “The Bachelor,” check out HuffPost’s Here To Make Friends podcast below: 

Do people love “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” or do they love to hate these shows? It’s unclear. But here at “Here to Make Friends,” we both love and love to hate them — and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.

Want more “Bachelor” stories in your life? Sign up for HuffPost’s Entertainment email for extra hot goss about The Bachelor, his 30 bachelorettes, and the most dramatic rose ceremonies ever. The newsletter will also serve you up some juicy celeb news, hilarious late-night bits, awards coverage and more. Sign up for the newsletter here.

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

Tuesday’s announcement of Denzel Washington’s Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in “Fences” makes him the only black actor to land eight Oscar nominations. 

This is a historic achievement for the 62-year-old as he holds the record for being the black actor who has earned the most Oscar nominations in history. Morgan Freeman comes in close with a total of five Oscar nods. It marks a significant moment as Washington stands out among a short but talented list of people of color who have been nominated for an Oscar throughout history.  

In honor of his nomination for his fictional role as former Negro Leagues baseball player Troy Maxson in “Fences,” we’ve complied a list of the roles the two-time Oscar winning heartthrob has been nominated for over the years:

Best Performance by Actor in a Leading Role, “Flight,” 2013

Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a high-functioning alcoholic and drug addict working as a pilot whose vices eventually land him in trouble. 

Best Actor in a Leading Role, “Training Day,” 2002 (Win)

In his Oscar-winning performance as Detective Alonzo Spencer, Washington plays a crooked cop who forces his coerces a rookie officer into adopting his obscenely unethical habits. 

Best Actor in a Leading Role, “The Hurricane,” 2000

Based on the experiences of late boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, Washington depicts the struggles of the wrongfully convicted Carter and his fight to gain freedom. 

Best Actor in a Leading Role, “Malcolm X”, 1993

Washington plays the late iconic civil rights activist Malcolm X in the biopic written by Spike Lee. 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role, “Glory,” 1990 (Win)

Washington’s first Oscar win came from his superb performance as runaway slave Tripp in the historical drama. 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role, “Cry Freedom,” 1988

Washington’s role as late anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko led him to his first Oscar recognition. 

Per usual, we’re rooting for you, Denzie. 

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

Everyone’s favorite satirical adventurer, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), isn’t done entertaining and enlightening us. Later this year, a fairy tale he jotted down after sharing it with his daughters in 1879 will be released as a never-before-published book.

In a press release, publisher Penguin Random House wrote, “Although Twain told his young daughters countless bedtime stories, made up on the spot as they requested them, these notes are believed to be the only ones he ever jotted down from those sessions.” 

The story was discovered by Twain scholar John Bird, author of Mark Twain and Metaphor.

The story is less rooted in realistic political happenings than the Twain writings typically read in school, like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Instead, it seems that Twain dabbled in the magical elements of children’s books and fables by creating a character who, after eating a special flower, gains the power to talk to animals.

In addition to the story’s original 16 pages, The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine, out in September, will include illustrations by Erin Stead. 

If it’s anything like its cover, the book will be a whimsical story a la “Big Fish” or even “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” but told in delicate watercolors. Twainians, rejoice!

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

“Zootopia,” more than any animated movie in 2016, proved you can try everything. 

While talking with The Huffington Post, directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore revealed they were originally unsure about how successful a socially conscious animated movie would be when they started making “Zootopia” five years ago. They knew it could be controversial and “a little risky.” 

Earning more than one billion dollars at the box office, and now a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards, the risk was obviously worth it. Howard says the fact that people got behind the social messages of the film is “terrific.”

“We had no idea that the United States or the world would be where it is today that long ago, but I think we were aware that bias and discrimination, unfortunately, are evergreen issues, like Rich says sometimes. And we really wanted the film to not be a preachy film, to not be a message movie so to speak, but to speak to hope because that’s really all that we have,” said Howard. 

Howard also reflected on the worldwide Women’s Marches last weekend, saying they represented the “spirit of hope,” adding, “The fact that people can ban together like that and show support for one another to challenge really difficult issues makes me feel better about being a human being.”

Among the most memorable things from the marches were all the different protest signs people carried. With that in mind, what would Judy Hopps’ sign have said?

“I was just thinking [Judy] definitely would’ve been in a Women’s March if there was one going on in Zootopia,” Moore said. “I think it would say something to the effect of, ‘Not just a cute little bunny,’ or, ‘Don’t grab this bunny.’ I need to kind of beat it up a little bit, whatever it is. It would be super clever and animal-themed in some way. And now for the rest of the interview, I’m going to be thinking, ‘What would that sign say.’”

After much thought, the directors emailed HuffPost to reveal what Judy would have written on her sign. Without further ado ...

“Free Meowlania.”
Judy Hopps' Women's March sign.

Meow that’s what we’re talking about. 

During the interview, the directors even said they may bring Judy’s sign onstage if they win the Oscar, with Howard joking that they’d make it bunny-sized and bring a real bunny, too.

The pair continued chatting with HuffPost about “Zootopia,” saying it originally featured much more “overt racism.” They also discussed how a sequel would finally address the relationship between Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps.

(”Free Meowlania.” Lol. Nice one, Judy.)

How’d you find out about the Best Animated Feature nomination?

Rich Moore: I did the old fashion way. I turned on the TV. It was either that or watch it on my phone. It was like, “No, I’m going to watch the local news,” so I went to my ABC affiliate [ABC7’s George Pennacchio] ...

Byron Howard: [Laugh] That’s a good plug.

Moore: ... [the] entertainment guru, to kind of break the news, and I watched it on the big screen in the home. How did you watch it Byron?

Howard: I found out on my phone at around 5:30 a.m. I can’t remember who posted it first on the internet, but I heard that, then I told Rich and [publicist Amy Astley] that moments after that my local skunk blasted my house, so my house wreaks of skunk musk [for] the last two hours. I’ve been burning candles for two hours, but it’s in my mouth, and it’s making my eyes water, so Rich was saying the skunks are making sure that we know to put the skunk in the sequel.

[Laugh] I was gonna say. That’s perfect.

Moore: They are underrepresented. They weren’t represented. There were no skunks in “Zootopia.”

Howard: Message received, skunk.

Have you thought about what would be in a sequel?

Howard: If we do another one, it’s going to have to be at that same level. I don’t think we’ll ever be happy with a “Zootopia” film that doesn’t have something significant to say at its core. I think we’d love to see the world explored more because it’s so vast. We only got to show you a small fraction of what we designed for the film, and there’s so much that we didn’t put in the film because we didn’t have the room.

What weren’t you able to include, and what changed? I know there was a “Taming Party” scene that was cut?

Howard: That was a key one, the “Taming Party.” I was trying to figure out how to talk about this message of bias, and so as we figured it out, we made it be Judy’s story. Then we swung that around the other way. But all the other districts in the city: we had an Australian one called Outback Island, which was full of crazy creatures like platypus; we had a nocturnal district underneath the city. And it all was kind of catered to the story. Once we figured out it was Judy’s story and her journey, everything around it, including where we went with the characters, had to reflect on that. 

Was there another character you were going to focus on?

Moore: Yeah, it used to focus more on Nick as a very oppressed citizen predator in the city of Zootopia. The city really wore its bias on its sleeves in that early version. From Frame 1, it was very obvious that this is a very broken city that discriminates against half of its citizens of predators.

Going that way, it really presented a world that was hard to relate to in a way. It didn’t feel like the bias that we experience in our world. It was a very dystopian place. We didn’t like the city at all. It didn’t feel like a place in the United States or in free countries around the world. It felt more like we were telling the story of South Africa during apartheid or something like that, and we said, “Well, this is supposed to be an examination of unconscious bias,” and it did feel like a heavy handed polemic about discrimination and racism. What we really wanted to tell was a story of how bias resides in everyone, that we all have a piece of that to some degree, no matter who we are.

So then you went with Judy?

Moore: We said, “Wouldn’t it be more artful to tell the story through the eyes of Judy, the more kind of Eagle Scout character, this wide-eyed, naive dreamer who wants to make the world a better place and who thinks bias is something from her parents generation?”

“They think that way, but not me. I’ve got it right. I’m not like that. I’m better than to look down and judge other people or other animals in my community,” in her case, and through going to the big city and uncovering this crime, and at the same time uncovering aspects of her character, she discovers, “Oh my God, this is something that’s in me. And because I tried to ignore it and think that I’m better than this, it’s flourished, and I’m hurting someone I loved because of it.” That way we were able to examine the topic as something that we can say is a journey for each of us as individuals to attack this.

Judy doesn’t cure racism in the movie, but she realizes it’s an inside job. The person she can address is herself ... It’s a big shift in story from very overt racism to how it sits with the individual instead.

Before you go, I don’t know if you’ve seen the fan fiction out there, but people are really into the idea of Judy and Nick. What can you say about their relationship?

Howard: We always say we’re really glad that people see that there’s chemistry there [Laugh].

Moore: We love the ‘shippers, the WildeHopps ‘shippers out there. They love the relationship between Judy and Nick, and some people like them platonic as friends. Byron and I always say, if we do a sequel, we’re gonna have to make a decision where that relationship goes, and half the fan base isn’t going to be happy whatever that decision is. There are very passionate fans who are like, “No, they’re just friends.” Then there are other ones that cannot wait to see them get together and have babies, whatever those look like.

Howard: I’d love to do the “Star Trek” reboot thing where we split off into a different universe, and we could do both.

Moore: [Laugh] We’re very aware of it. Where does it go? Where do we take this? How do we do what’s best for the fans and what’s best for the story and the characters? I don’t envy our job going forward.

So you haven’t made a decision yet?

Howard: We kind of like the tension. We like not knowing yet.

Oh, stop it, you two. Just kiss already and get over it.

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

George Orwell’s novel 1984 is more than 60 years old ― but in the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the classic tale of a dystopian society, where an authoritarian government uses language to control the masses, is in high demand.

One edition of the book climbed to the second-highest spot on Amazon’s best-sellers list Tuesday afternoon, which is updated hourly. The sale surge was highlighted Monday by Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” when the book was number six on the list. 

It would be difficult to pinpoint exactly what caused the spike, but plenty of people have pointed to “Orwellian” language used by Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. When host Chuck Todd asked Conway about White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s false claim that Trump drew the largest inauguration crowds ever, Conway disputed the notion that he had lied.

Spicer instead gave “alternative facts,” she said.

“Alternative facts are not facts,” Todd countered. “They’re falsehoods.”

On “Reliable Sources” Sunday, Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty called the term “a George Orwell phrase.”

“This brings us to 1984 ‘doublethink,’ where war is really peace, where famine is really plenty. That’s what’s happening here,” political historian Allan Lichtman added.

Google searches for the term “Orwellian” also spiked on Sunday. 

Rebranding lies as “alternative facts” is certainly reminiscent of the way language is used by those in power in the world of 1984 ― to distort, manipulate and propagandize. One of the book’s most famous quotations is the three-part slogan for the (fictional) Ministry of Truth: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

Orwell also wrote about the way language can undermine truth in his nonfiction. In the 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” he wrote:  

Political language ― and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists ― is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

1984 has sold millions of copies, is a standard in high school English classes and hasn’t lost relevance over the decades. Though some say we’re too quick to accuse things of being “Orwellian,” Orwell’s story has clearly helped people trying to make sense of foreboding contemporary events.

When the extent of the National Security Agency’s citizen surveillance activities came out in 2013 ― reminding some of 1984’s Big Brother, the secretive, authoritarian leader who’s always watching ― the Amazon sales ranking for one edition of the book jumped 4,000 percent overnight.

The paperback edition that’s climbing the best-sellers list is published by Signet Classics, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The publisher did not immediately return a request for comment. 

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

Howard Jacobson’s most recent book was a smart sendup of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” His book before that was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.

Now, the British novelist is turning his critical eye on America’s recently sworn-in president, Donald Trump. The satire ― a comic fairy tale out in April in the U.K. ― will be titled Pussy.

According to The Guardian, Pussy “tells the story of Prince Fracassus, heir to the Duchy of Origen, famed for its golden-gated skyscrapers and casinos, who passes his boyhood watching reality TV shows and fantasising about sex workers.” It will also attempt to explain how Trump won the election. 

In the same post, Jacobson outlined his intentions and inspirations for the book. “Fiction can’t match reality at the moment,” he said. “Satire is an important weapon in the fight against what is happening and Trump looks like a person who is particularly vulnerable to derision.”

Jacobson added that the idea for his “savage satire” came while touring America for his previous book and watching Trump speak on TV. “It was unbelievable,” he said.

The title (a not-so-subtle nod to one of Trump’s own quotes) is a bold one, but not untimely. On Saturday, millions of women took to the streets in America, the UK, and other countries around the world, wearing pink “pussy” hats to reclaim the term, and show solidarity for women everywhere, who believed that reproductive rights were in danger under Trump.

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

Champions of the arts bristled last week at a report from The Hill that President Donald Trump’s agenda might include axing the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) ― along with many other severe budget cuts. 

A report, however, is not a budget plan, and a president’s proposed budget is not a final policy. Citizens remain a crucial part of government; vocally and energetically supporting or opposing specific policies can sway elected officials. (Not sure about this? Check the NRA’s influence over gun control, backed by millions of highly mobilized members.)

So what can a mere individual do to save national arts and humanities funding? We talked to a few organizations working in the trenches to advocate for cultural institutions, and here’s what they said: 

1. Know the stakes.

Suzanne Nossel, the executive director of PEN America, pointed out that though the budgets of the NEA and the NEH are small, “the impact is significant. They fund things that can’t attract for-profit dollars. Even more than that, the signal [axing these institutions] sends ... is dangerous in a way that reaches far beyond even the impact of these important agencies.”

“The NEH ... has a national mandate,” said Stephen Kidd, the executive director of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), in a phone conversation with HuffPost. “So it’s supporting humanities work in small towns all around the country ... there really aren’t other funders out there that are supporting that kind of work on that kind of scale.”

He pointed to support for local museums, educational access to historical newspapers, and even veterans’ programs that use the arts and literature to help veterans grapple with the traumatizing experiences of war as they return from combat.

2. Sign a petition.

“The most important thing will be signing petitions so it’s a real show of force in numbers,” Nossel told HuffPost.  

And don’t stop at one, as issues may arise. The Independent reported Monday that the official White House petition to save arts funding did not appear to be registering signatures. At the time of the article’s publication, only 27 signatures had been counted despited hundreds of tweets from self-proclaimed signatories. Today, the count stands at only 42, and the link to “share with others” leads only to a landing page inviting users to sign up for updates from President Trump.

Not to worry: PEN America launched a petition on Tuesday, addressed to Congress, which urges representatives “to reject any budget brought before Congress that eliminates funding for the arts and humanities.”

A Change.org petition addressed to NEA Chairman Jane Chu, Trump, and several other lawmakers specifically pleads for the NEA, stating, “These great organizations must be spared and should not go quietly into the night.” 

3. Call your representatives.

Not sure how to contact your congressional representative, or even who that is? Find your representative by zip code here, and other elected officials here. The best bet is to call your own representative ― even if they already hold your own position, to ensure that support is being shored up ― as well as congresspeople from relevant committees.

When lobbying one’s representatives directly, “the most important thing is to talk in specific terms about what’s going on in their own communities, in their own districts,” said Kidd. “That’s what members of Congress are really most concerned about.”

Nossel suggested that voters “talk about the value of arts and culture in their lives, for the economy, for education, for tourism.” She added, “The fact that really from a fiscal perspective, this makes no sense. These cuts are far too small to make any dent in the federal budget, so it can’t be justified as an austerity measure.” That’s because the NEH and the NEA budgets each make up a fraction of one percent of the federal budget ― not to mention that their dollars have a stimulating effect on the artistic economy.

Arlene Goldbard, chief policy wonk of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) (which is not a government agency, but a grassroots-oriented national arts advocacy organization), argued in a phone conversation with HuffPost that the practical angle might not be the strongest. “What we need to argue is for cultural values [...] for what we stand for and how we want to be remembered,” she said, noting that pushback against NEH and NEA defunding would work “if people are successful in connecting arts funding with arts education for kids in the community, with freedom of expression, larger expression of cultural rights.”

4. Go see your representatives in person.

Phone calls, as seasoned political activists know, make a stronger impression on politicians than emails. Pages of angry emails simply don’t have the same direct impact as phone lines clogged by voters, each waiting to have the same forceful conversation with their representative’s staff. 

So it makes sense that talking to representatives (or their staff) in person would have an even stronger effect. In a November tweet thread immortalized on Lifehacker, writer and former Congressional staffer Emily Ellsworth pointed out that often the same few people would come to town halls. “If you want to talk to your rep, show up at town hall meetings,” she tweeted.”Get a huge group that they can’t ignore. Pack that place and ask questions.”

You may be able to join forces with an organized effort. For example, Kidd told HuffPost, the NHA is heading to Capitol Hill in March for Humanities Advocacy Day, an annual excursion which may have extra significance this year. The event, he said, would be an opportunity to personally lobby congresspeople to support the NEH.

5. Organize an event in support of cultural institutions.

A peaceful march, a rally to restore sanity, a flash mob to save arts funding ― coming together to publicly show solidarity and support can build force behind a political initiative.

If you have thoughts about the state of culture in America today, the USDAC offers one outlet: their third annual People’s State of the Union, a national event that seeks to elevate people’s voices and give an alternative vision of America. 

“What we do is make free training, and a lot of free ancillary material, available to anybody who wants to host a story circle in their community that gives people the opportunity to reflect on their own perception of the state of our union,” explained Goldbard. “People upload their stories to a portal, and those are available both for everybody to peruse and for people to base their cultural policy on.” (Plus, the resulting insights on American culture are transformed into a lyrical, collaborative address by a team of poets.)

6. Remember that your voice could make a real difference. 

“These efforts have failed in the past,” Nossel said. “It’s far from the first time these cuts have been proposed, and every time they’ve failed.”

Goldbard agreed. “This is a total reprise of something that’s been tried before and not succeeded.” She also argued that the NEH and NEA cuts, floated just as Trump’s administration geared up to take drastic steps on other controversial issues such as the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, might merely be a distraction for activists. “It may just be a tactic,” she said, noting that it’s important to contextualize possible arts cuts within a constellation of other urgent issues. “But if it’s not just a tactic, it’s important for groups like ours to hold the line.”

Victoria Hutter, a spokesperson for the NEA, told HuffPost via email that the NEA “is operating under a Continuing Resolution for FY17, which goes through April 2017,” much like other federal agencies. She added. “We look forward to participating in the usual budget process for the FY18 budget with OMB [Office of Management and Budget] and The White House.” As that process goes forward, anyone concerned about the arts ― or other parts of the budget ― can make their voice heard by contacting their representatives. 

As the Trump administration moves forward, with a flurry of executive orders and proposed budgetary measures, there are a lot of moving parts for progressives to keep their eyes on. Should changes to the NEH and NEA actually be among them, at least the game plan for saving them seems clear: Dial early, dial often.

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

President Trump has only been in office five days and already he has made headway on many of his most alarming campaign promises ― from preparing to dramatically restrict immigration from Muslim-majority countries to erasing Obama’s climate change initiatives. There are, of course, ways for the millions of Americans appalled by Trump’s agenda to organize, resist, and take action. And then, there’s some good old-fashioned Twitter trolling. 

It’s been hard for many to resist taking a dig at Donald on the internet platform he holds so dear, and most recently it’s been the art world who has taken up the gauntlet. British humor website The Poke called upon its readers to incorporate Trump into some of art history’s most iconic works, thereby, of course, making them “much better and far more beautiful ― or at the very least more orange.” 

The good art nerds of Twitter delivered, responding with classical paintings updated to reflect Trump and his team’s penchant for “alternative facts,” “pussy” grabbing, Vladimir Putin and, allegedly, golden showers. Let the dragging commence. 

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

Little Claire Ryann Crosby definitely has a friend in her dad, and this cute video proves it.

Claire is known for her takes on classic Disney songs on YouTube, and her latest performance includes her dad, Dave Crosby. The two took on Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from “Toy Story” in a video that has been viewed more than 3 million times in a week. As Dave plays guitar and sings along, Claire really gets into the song, throwing her head back to try and hit all those high notes.

Woody and Buzz would totally approve. 

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

A little snow didn’t stop thousands of Utah residents from marching on Salt Lake City’s state capitol building this past Monday to protest for women's equality. 

More than 6,000 people flooded the capitol, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The march was organized to call for equal rights for women, the LGBTQ community, people of color and religious minorities. 

The protest took place just two days after an estimated 2.6 million worldwide marched in solidarity with American women, because it was the first day of business for Utah’s part-time legislature. Some marchers said they had just arrived home from the Women’s March on Washington in D.C.; they were exhausted and some were even getting sick, but that didn’t stop them from showing up on Monday. 

Men make up an overwhelming majority of Utah’s state legislature and many marchers told the Tribune they don’t trust their state government to make the right decisions for women.

“You know what else I’m sick and tired of?” event organizer Kate Kelly told the Tribune. “I’m sick and tired of men making laws about our bodies and our choices and our lives without consulting us.”

Other marchers said they were fearful of President Trump and the discriminatory policies he’s said he’ll put in place. 

“With Trump being inaugurated, there’s a lot of fear for women’s rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQ, Muslims,” marcher Megan Stevens said. “We’re afraid that our voices aren’t going to be heard and our rights will be given away.”

As Noor Ul-Hassan, a spokesperson for Utah Women Unite, told the Tribune: “We will come together even if those men don’t want us to. When you think we don’t have a voice, remember that we raised our voices here.”

Scroll below to see some tweets with video and photos from the Utah Women’s March on the State Capitol. 

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

Johnny Walker is reminding Americans that this is a land for immigrants. 

The Scotch whisky brand went to Los Angeles’ Chicano Batman for their latest ad, created for the company’s “Keep Walking America” marketing campaign. In the spot, the Latino four-piece band reinterprets the iconic American folk song “This Land Is Your Land” as an immigrant anthem.

“This song’s message has never been more timely, and we hope our version continues to inspire people to keep walking towards their dreams and to celebrate each other,” Chicano Batman frontman Bardo Martinez said in a press release. 

The music video, which doubles as an ad for the brand, is meant to take viewers into Chicano Batman’s community in Los Angeles. And the new version of the song includes a line in Spanish, which translates to: 

There’s no one that can stop me on the way to liberty. There’s no one who can make me go back, this land is for you and for me. 

Chicano Batman, and immigrants, are here to stay. 

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

In the painted world of Johannesburg-based artist Lady Skollie, to be human is to be hungry. In her current exhibition, “Lust Politics,” she begs her viewers to scratch their most primal of itches, serving up a sumptuous visual feast full of papayas, apples and bananas ripe with sexual power, as well as bodies that look like they could be just as easily devoured. 

The artist was born Laura Windvogel in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1987. Her adopted pseudonym contrasts the typical associations with being “ladylike” with the Afrikaans term “skollie” which, the artist explained to The Huffington Post, is used in South Africa “to describe a person of color as a suspicious character.” Lady Skollie appropriated the word often employed to police identity, in effect, liberating herself from her own.

Skollie is herself a jumble of seemingly oppositional parts ― defiant yet conscientious, playful yet foul ― all coexisting at various frequencies. “Lady Skollie is where the two parts of my personality are harmonious, feminine and masculine, the one not encroaching on the other,” she said. 

Her multimedia paintings, made from ink, watercolor and crayon, occupy a similarly paradoxical terrain. At first glance, it’s their appealing juiciness that seeps out, the painted fruits tempting the bold colors and the promise of sweetness.

Then, however, it becomes apparent just how much an apple, when split down the middle, resembles a woman’s spread legs; that there are pink penises hidden within a bunch of bananas. “I don’t remember a time when the theme of using my body and sexuality was not there,” Skollie said. 

But the paintings are not pure pleasure. Their coarse renderings and clustered black seeds obscure a darker underbelly. In part, the works allude to some of the repercussions of erotic hunger ― issues of consent, abuse, as well as the enormous pressures women endure as a result of being sexualized and objectified. The idea, for example, that women’s bodies ripen like fruits and then rot if they’re not consumed.

Skollie’s painted papayas and bananas also serve as symbols of exploitation and colonization, a grave reality for South African descendants of the Khoisan tribe, like Skollie herself. Approximately 22,000 years ago, the Khoisan people were the largest group of humans on Earth. Today only about 100,000 remain, with much of their lifestyle, based around hunting and gathering, uprooted by herding and agriculture. Skollie’s work pays tribute to her heritage by embracing the essential elements that comprise human life: food, sex, and love.

“One of my biggest inspirations is Khoisan culture, as a woman of Khoi descent,” Skollie said. “However, the Khoisan elements I am inspired by are not what they were, and unfortunately, due to colonization, I will never know the extent of knowledge, culture and true power the Khoisan possessed. All I can do is offer my new versions of Khoisan cave drawings, hoping that the 1,000-year gap in culture can be filled by my interest and respect. As artists of color I think our sole purpose is to fill in the gaps left by colonization.”

Ultimately, Skollie’s paintings combine pleasure and pain to depict the human experience through the lens of animal urges. The graphic images are easily digestible and oh-so-sweet, though they can leave a bitter aftertaste. 

Lady Skollie’s “Lust Politics” runs until March 4 at Tyburn Gallery in London. 

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

In the small canon of queer literature, “Call Me By Your Name” is tantamount to a religious text. André Aciman’s 2007 novel has become known for many traits ― its wistful recollection of first love, its sun-soaked Italian backdrop, a sensuality that crescendoes with furtive embraces and swift yearnings. These hallmarks coalesce in the story’s signature scene: a teenager fornicating with a peach.

The book’s disciples will wonder how this tantalizing moment unfolds in the big-screen adaptation, which premiered Sunday at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival. Let me be one of the first to confirm you will not be disappointed.

In fact, the entire piece feels like heaven, a near-perfect exploration of dual desires and youthful uncertainties. It is the finest movie at Sundance, and I expect it will be one of the year’s finest, as well.

Credit goes to director Luca Guadagnino, the Italian maven responsible for the sensual dreamscapes “I Am Love” and “A Bigger Splash,” both starring Tilda Swinton. With “Call Me By Your Name,” Guadagnino outdoes himself. The maestro found two impeccable leads to carry this delicate story, which he adapted with James Ivory and Walter Fasano. First is Timothée Chalamet (“Homeland,” “Interstellar”), who plays Elio, a bookish 17-year-old American summering in Italy with his academic parents. The other is Armie Hammer, portraying Oliver, an alluring 20-something graduate student who spends several weeks under the mentorship of Elio’s esteemed professor father (a thoughtful Michael Stuhlbarg) at the family’s lush villa.

Chalamet and Hammer showcase some of the richest chemistry I’ve ever witnessed in a movie. It escalates as Elio’s sexuality blossoms, at first uncertain and later unavoidably palpable.

This is all the more welcome knowing that Chalamet and Hammer exhibit a rich platonic chemistry off-screen. When I sat down with the actors the afternoon after the film’s rapturous premiere, it was like watching two admirers reminisce about a fateful season during which they, too, came of age.

Because the tale’s roots belong to a book cherished by so many queer readers, Chalamet and Hammer understood the weight of starring in “Call Me By Your Name.” That’s part of what bonded them during last summer’s shoot. From rehearsals in Guadagnino’s living room to the intimate demands of depicting sexual awakenings (Oliver may otherwise be straight, and Elio has been running around with a French girl played by Esther Garrel), Hammer and Chalamet fashioned their own sort of quixotic courtship. When the time came to capture their characters’ peachy foreplay, the actors’ off-screen affection doubled as the closest two heterosexual men could come to understanding the throes of burgeoning gay romance.

“We were there early enough in time to get a feel for the town, for each other and for Luca,” Hammer said after I praised the pair’s effortless magnetism. “We rehearsed all the time. I mean, I couldn’t appreciate the compliment about the chemistry more because, like, I fell in love with Timmy in the process of making the movie. He’s fucking terrific and he’s also an incredible actor, so I had all of that. It was just this great experience where I think we all, in the process of making this movie, got that experience of that one summer where we were there and everything was perfect.”

By that point, several minutes into the interview, it was as if two old flames were evoking a fond engagement, enjoyed once and then left to the recesses of their memories. They turned to each other on the couch where they were seated ― Hammer’s right arm in a sling due to a torn pectoral muscle ― and swooned over flashbacks.

“Like, do you remember that restaurant where we used to get the chocolate croissants and the espressos in the morning?” Hammer asked Chalamet, who simpered in response. “Do you remember that little place on the piazza where they had the pizza and the other stuff?”

“Ahhhh, yeah,” Chalamet gushed.

“You remember everything,” Hammer said. It’s a play on a line from the novel’s end, when Elio and Oliver recount their brief affair.

“Speranza!” Chalamet recalled, referring to an eatery.

“Yeah, Speranza,” Hammer said. “Where they had the fish. I mean, Timmy’s got some great memories, too. It was an experience that was so surreal and such a treat that honestly if nobody saw the movie, if nobody liked it, if it didn’t go anywhere, I’d still carry it with me as such a point of pride.”

And that’s where the story of “Call Me By Your Name” further brightens. This movie will go quite far. Reviews have already declared it a masterpiece, making special note of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s sumptuous cinematography and the melancholic Sufjan Stevens songs featured throughout. Sony Pictures Classics purchased the film for a reported $6 million ahead of Sundance, possibly eyeing a fitting late-summer release. Hammer and Chalamet will get ample opportunities to speak of their time together, even if there’s nothing like the rush of a charmed festival bow.

Peach action aside, one moment in the movie’s back half particularly struck me. Once they’ve finally embraced their attractions, Elio and Oliver spend all of their limited time together. One night, they sit on the balcony outside their conjoined bedrooms, cursing themselves for waiting so long to probe their desires. Oliver will return to America in a few days. They face each other, leaning against stone posts, their legs touching. Laughter ripples through Oliver and Elio’s flirtations. They lean in as they commune, grazing each other’s skin. It’s more romantic than any of the movie’s sex — which is, for the most part, fairly tame — and more poetic than any of its swank European liberation. It is a man and a boy whose mutual fondness has at last blossomed, who have unearthed new parts of themselves, who are relishing unbridled bliss. It’s something we all want for ourselves. It’s sublime. Most importantly, it’s faithful to the tone of Aciman’s bible.

“It’s so funny when you talk to people about the book because either they haven’t read it or they’re absolutely insane about it,” Chalamet said. “And it’s funny, the putting-it-together process happened so quickly and it was in Italy, so I wasn’t in the States. The conversations with people that had read the book were always in a post-production setting so that I could go, ‘Wow, that person really loves “Call Me By Your Name.” Good thing I already shot it, or I’d be 10 times more terrified for them to see it.’ And then again, in Luca’s hands, it was just really safe. We were very confident he was going to do the story justice.”

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

As a kid, Lin-Manuel Miranda vowed to take his mom to the Oscars as his date. This year, he’ll be able to fulfill that promise.

The “Hamilton” mastermind will go for EGOT status, thanks to his Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for “How Far I’ll Go” in Disney’s “Moana.” In an interview with USA Today, Miranda revealed his mom, Luz Towns-Miranda, will be his date to the awards ceremony. The Broadway star has been promising to take her for years. 

“We gotta get my mom a dress. I’ve promised her she was coming with me to the Oscars since I was 10,” Miranda said. “Obviously the first priority is getting my mom looking nice. I can wear any old penguin suit.”

Miranda has given several shout-outs to his mom on Twitter and has been vocal in his support for Planned Parenthood, where Towns-Miranda, a psychologist, is a board member.

At the after-party following Miranda’s final appearance in “Hamilton” in July, Towns-Miranda told The Huffington Post her son had played around with music and performing as a kid and that she’s proud of what he’s accomplished years later.

“It’s an incredible feeling for a mom to know that her son has accomplished at least his dreams, because this is such a difficult field,” she said. “And for him to reach this level of success is beyond what even he imagined.”

H/T USA Today

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

Acclaimed novelist and essayist Roxane Gay might term herself a “bad feminist,” but when it comes to registering dissent, she knows exactly how to be heard.

Following news several weeks ago that right-wing provocateur and one-time Twitter bully Milo Yiannopoulos would be publishing a book on his controversial political philosophy with Simon & Schuster’s conservative Threshold imprint, many infuriated progressives directed their outrage at the publisher itself. Readers and critics threatened to boycott the entire publishing house, and several writers published by Simon & Schuster publicly challenged the choice. 

Now Gay, a well-known and influential writer, has come forward to announce that she’s asked her agent to pull a book originally slated for publication with a Simon & Schuster imprint in 2018. “I guess I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” she told Buzzfeed. The book, a nonfiction work entitled How to Be Heard, was to have been published by TED Books, a series by the influential idea-championing TED organization published in partnership with Simon & Schuster.

In a statement provided to Buzzfeed News, Gay said:

When the announcement about Milo’s book first came out, I was relieved because I thought I didn’t have a book with Simon & Schuster and tweeted something to that effect. Then I remembered my TED Book and that TED is an imprint of Simon & Schuster. I was supposed to turn the book in this month and I kept thinking about how egregious it is to give someone like Milo a platform for his blunt, inelegant hate and provocation.

According to the statement, she eventually told her agent to pull the book. She emphasized that she didn’t see this as an act of censorship.

Milo has every right to say what he wants to say [...] he doesn’t have a right to have a book published by a major publisher but he has, in some bizarre twist of fate, been afforded that privilege. So be it. I’m not interested in doing business with a publisher willing to grant him that privilege.

As of this writing, How to Be Heard still appears on the landing page for TED Books on Simon & Schuster’s website, available for preorder with a publication date in March 2018. 

On Tuesday, Buzzfeed published a letter sent by Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy to authors upset by Yiannopoulos’s book deal, which aimed to reassure writers that “neither Threshold Editions nor any other of our imprints will publish books that we think will incite hatred, discrimination or bullying.” On Twitter, Gay indicated that this reassurance was far from sufficient:

Simon & Schuster and TED did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

As for How to Be Heard ― will it ever be heard? Gay told Buzzfeed that though she hasn’t yet secured another publisher for the book, “I do hope the book is published someday.” Our bets are on this one getting snapped up in no time. 

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