Seventeen years ago, the Oscar-nominated documentary “Buena Vista Social Club” chronicled the titular Cuban members’ club, which spawned a crew of musicians who recorded an album of the same name. Opening May 26, a new movie will revisit the band members on their farewell tour, and the ups and downs they experienced in the intervening years.

HuffPost has an exclusive clip from “Buena Vista Social Club: Adios” in which one of the group’s spirited veterans gives a tour of the old venue. He stresses the institution’s importance: “This is the place where It used to be, the society for black people.” Thanks to Lucy Walker’s documentary, this piece of Havana history will get the send-off it deserves. 

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Following what’s been described as a “rash of suicides in southern Colorado,” a school district in the state ordered librarians to temporarily remove the book Thirteen Reasons Why from its shelves.

The YA novel, written by Jay Asher, is the source material for a wildly popular and highly contentious Netflix adaptation of the same name, about a high school girl who decides to commit suicide after compiling a series of tapes that chronicle her reasons for doing so.

The show, considered a smash success for the streaming service, has been both praised by critics for its unsettling take on teenage-centric TV and denounced by psychologists for its irresponsible depiction of mental illness. 

Teachers and parents have expressed similar concerns, claiming that the TV show glorifies and romanticizes suicide ― taking issue with the graphic depiction of the lead character’s actual suicide, which some have claimed opens the door for copycats.

In response, the curriculum director at Mesa County Valley School District in Colorado, Leigh Grasso, told her schools’ librarians to temporarily pull copies of Asher’s book from circulation. “I think we were just being cautious until we had the opportunity to look at the book and see how closely related to the movie it was,” she told The Associated Press.

According to the AP, the order “rankled some librarians who called [the decision] censorship.” Following protests, the books ― 19 of which were already checked out by students at the time ― were officially returned to circulation. 

“Censorship is a slippery slope,” one librarian wrote to the school, according to emails obtained by The Daily Sentinel through a Colorado Open Records Act request.

James LaRue, director of the American Library Associations’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, confirmed that the book Thirteen Reasons Why has been challenged by at least one other school besides Mesa County, though he declined to give details on their ongoing investigation. (The AP cited yet another school district in Minnesota, which temporarily pulled the book after a parent complained about its sexual content.)

“There are a lot of people that are terribly afraid when something like this comes out,” LaRue told HuffPost over the phone. “That when teen suicide happens in an area, sometimes they’re contagious. Every time someone writes about, it seems like there tends to be more of them. So I totally understand the fear that some parents have about this.”

People have been writing about suicide because it happens. It doesn’t happen because people write about it.
ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom director James LaRue

However, he does not condone the decision to remove the books without due process, noting that “people have been writing about suicide because it happens. It doesn’t happen because people write about it.”

Attempts to remove the book from the school, he says, particularly in ways that bypass processes that libraries have long had in place for reconsideration, could be hurting the situation rather than helping.

“When someone comes in and complains about a book, what should happen is not that the book is immediately withdrawn, but that a committee is put together, [made up of] some parents, some teachers, some librarians, and they look at this and say, ‘Does this fit the curriculum? Does it make sense? Is this a way for us to talk about an important issue?’” he explained, adding, “I would urge schools to follow their policies and procedures, rather than have this reflexive attempt to halt discussion of other important issues.”

LaRue pointed out that the book does stand apart from the Netflix adaptation, describing the show as more “in-your-face graphic” than Asher’s novel. (Other differences between the two have been outlined here.) Still, he believes that both the TV version and the book have merit.

“I just want to leave people with this thought,” he concluded. “The popularity of the series might really save lives and so might more reading and talking about the issue. But silence won’t help us at all, and censorship is never the answer.” 

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A gay couple have paid tribute to pop icon George Michael in a new video aimed at raising awareness of LGBTQ issues in Poland.

Released May 14, the video is a colorful mashup of three of Michael’s classic hits, “Faith,” “Too Funky” and “Freedom ‘90.” A bevy of well-known Polish personalities, including singer-dancer Wiktor Korszla, drag queens Charlotte Drag Queer and Aldona Relax, and vloggers Piotr Sokołowski and Paweł Dworak, star in the clip, which can be viewed above. Marek Idziak-Sepkowski and Jedrzej Idziak-Sepkowski, who tied the knot in a symbolic 2014 ceremony even though same-sex marriage is not recognized in Poland, also make appearances in the video, which concludes with a hashtag call for equality, #PolandWakeUp. 

The project was spearheaded by Polish LGBTQ rights activists Jakub Kwiecinski and his boyfriend, David. The pair shot to viral fame in August 2016 when they repurposed Roxette’s “Some Other Summer” as a coming out anthem in a colorful video that has received over 490,000 views to date. Since then, they’ve produced a number of other popular YouTube clips, including LGBTQ-inclusive renditions of RedOne’s “Don’t You Need Somebody” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” 

Their homage to Michael, who died in December, is particularly fitting, given his cultural significance to the queer community. “He was the greatest gay artist of our time, a real icon,” Kwiecinski told HuffPost. He noted how he and David continue to find strength in Michael’s music. “We grew up with it, we fell in love with it... and now we can fight with it.” 

Kwiecinski said he and David will head to Portugal to marry in June, even though their union won’t be official in their home country. The country’s parliament has no openly gay or transgender members, and national efforts to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination and violence have been unsuccessful. 

Still, the couple have vowed to keep fighting. “We just did to say it loud and clear – we are not gonna let go and we are not afraid,” Kwiecinski said. “When we sang ‘Freedom ‘90’ at the end, we really felt a power that we can change the world. Not today, not tomorrow ― but one day, it will happen.”

No doubt George would be thrilled by the efforts his legacy has inspired. 

For the latest in LGBTQ entertainment, check out the Queer Voices newsletter.  

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The first trailer for the Lifetime Michael Jackson biopic no one really wanted is here.

“Searching for Neverland,” based on a 2014 book by the late King of Pop’s former bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, focuses on the final years of Jackson’s life.

In the trailer, we catch glimpses of the star ― played by the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest” MJ impersonator Navi ― balancing his home life, on the infamous Neverland Ranch, with his fame and celebrity. To be honest, Navi makes a pretty convincing Jackson in some moments. 

In the 45-second clip, things get a little intense when investigators question Whitfield and Beard about Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor who gave Jackson a lethal dose of propofol just hours before his death. 

Given Lifetime’s history with unauthorized biopics (see: “Britney Ever After,” “Aaliyah: Princess of R&B”), we don’t have high hopes for this one. But you can be the judge when it airs on May 29 on Lifetime.

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These images are not your average engagement pics. 

On Monday, Junebug Weddings revealed the winners of their annual “Best of the Best” engagement photo contest, and boy, are they stunning. 

“The 2017 collection is compelling, breathtaking, and undeniably sexy,” Junebug editor-in-chief Carrie Crooks said in a press release. “People are going to love these photos and the stories that they tell.” 

Below, we’ve featured 25 of our favorite images. To see the collection in full, head over to Junebug Weddings. 

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Aidy Bryant debuted her impression of White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders this past weekend on “Saturday Night Live” and ―big shocker ― not everyone is happy about it.  

“For those of you who don’t know me yet, my father is Mike Huckabee and my mother is a big southern hamburger,” Bryant-as-Sanders told the press pool in a deep southern drawl during the skit.

While the the skit was fairly complimentary toward Sanders, dubbing her “articulate and charming” and an improvement over Sean Spicer, it seems her father, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, was not amused. 

“I thought it was a little bit silly, sexist, [and] misogynist, but my daughter is certainly capable of handling a whole lot worse than that,” Huckabee said on the Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co” on Tuesday. 

Other commentators claimed the skit fat-shamed the deputy press secretary.

“You guys were mean about Huckabee Sanders,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo said on Monday. “You were fat-shaming her. You were talking about how she looks and what she wears. I thought that it was mean, not funny.”

He added, “They had her eating. I thought it was in poor taste.”

Cuomo is referring to the show’s decision to have Bryant eating an apple when she reappears at the podium after being kicked off the stage by Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer.

The apple was no doubt a strange choice, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that casting Bryant as Huckabee Sanders is pretty spot-on. And if there’s any fat-shaming going on, it was coming from Cuomo, who probably owes Bryant an apology. 

As for joking about how Sanders looks and what she wears, that’s likely a reference to the Weekend Update segment on Saturday’s episode, in which host Colin Jost took a swing at her. 

“Spicer’s thirsty understudy Sarah Huckabee Sanders said James Comey had committed basic atrocities while he was head of the FBI, like reopening the Hillary Clinton investigation,” said Jost. “But that’s not a basic atrocity. A basic atrocity is when you post a brunch photo that says, ‘Pizza is life.’ Or when your profile pic is you on an inflatable swan. Basic Atrocities, by the way, is also where Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets her wardrobe.”

Yes, this is horribly sexist, regardless of the fact that Sean Spicer’s terrible sense of style is routinely dissected in the news. Horribly sexist. 

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U2 musician Bono has spent years reading and learning from the poetry of the Psalms, a book of the Bible that contains ancient hymns.

If there’s one thing Bono has realized from his studies, it’s that art always requires honesty.

During a conversation with Fuller Studio, the rock star spoke at length about the intersection of faith and art, particularly art that is produced by Christians.

“I would really like this conversation to unlock some artists,” the singer, a devout Christian, said. “Because I think there are trapped artists and I’d like them to be untrapped.”

In a previous dialogue with Fuller Studio released April 2016, Bono compared the Psalms with contemporary Christian worship music ― and found modern-day praise music to be sorely lacking. He argued that some contemporary worship music lacks the range of raw emotions that’s contained within the Psalms. 

In the new video series, released this April, Bono revisited the topic with Fuller Theological Seminary’s professor David O. Taylor. He offered further insights into how deeply the Psalms have influenced his life and his music. 

Before taping the new interview, Bono said he reread the Songs of Ascents ― a series of Psalms that were possibly sung by Jewish pilgrims as they made a trip to Jerusalem. Within those few chapters, Bono said he found songs about peace, protection, laughter, hubris, rage, tears, humility, and unity. 

“Okay, that’s just Songs of Ascent. They had utility. And why is it in Christian music, I can’t find them?”

He also critiqued the impulse to label music as “Christian,” or not Christian.

“Creation screams God’s name. So you don’t have to stick a sign on every tree,” Bono said, suggesting that just because a song isn’t explicitly called a “Christian” song, that doesn’t mean it isn’t spiritual in nature. 

“This has really, really got to stop,” he said.  “I want to hear a song about the breakdown in your marriage, I want to hear songs of justice, I want to hear rage at injustice and I want to hear a song so good that it makes people want to do something about the subject.”

The musician also shared his biggest dream for up-and-coming artists ― that they would create art for themselves and not necessarily just to please other people.  

“I want to argue the case for artists or potential artists who might be listening in on our conversation and are not giving expression to what’s really going on in their lives because they feel it will give the wrong impression of them. We don’t have to please God in any other way than to be brutally honest,” Bono said. “That is the root. Not just to a relationship with God, but it’s the root to a great song. That’s the only place you can find a great song. The only place you can find any work of art, of merit.” 

Listen to Bono’s second conversation with Fuller Studio above. For more, visit their website.

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Almost immediately after Ivanka Trump released her new book Women Who Work: Revisiting the Rules For Success, the delightfully savage reviews arrived to greet it. The self-help tome has been described by critics as both “witless” and “insufferable,” “vapid and “very vapid,” “a strawberry milkshake of inspirational quotes” and “a grab-bag of generic work-life advice for upper-middle-class white women.”

Apparently, a guidebook of rules for success it is not.

So it’s no surprise that a vigilante bookstore patron took it upon her- or himself to “fix” a recent display of Women Who Work. Instead of several copies of Trump’s latest title, the new arrangement showcases a few other suggested reads underneath the banner “Revisiting the Rules for Success.” They include Children of The Self-Absorbed, Disarming the Narcissist and Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life. 

While some online sleuths have guessed the new book display is the work of a rogue librarian, judging by the 20-percent-off sticker peeking out from beneath the carefully chosen books, all we can say is that the display appears to be located at an undisclosed Barnes & Noble. 

B&N vigilante, whoever you are: Your work has not gone unnoticed. 

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Kirsten Dunst has no problem letting you know that she just doesn’t care anymore.

The 35-year-old actress, who became a household name after she starred as Mary Jane in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy, sat down with Variety for a profile with frequent collaborator Sofia Coppola in lieu of their new film “Beguiled.” And boy, does Dunst let some of her opinions be known.

For instance, she could care less about those “Spider-Man” reboots. Per Variety:

She’s ambivalent about Sony’s decision to keep rebooting the franchise, now in its third iteration. “I don’t care,” she says of the reboots, admitting she didn’t see the last installment. “Everyone likes our ‘Spider-Man.’ C’mon, am I right or what? Listen, I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones.”

Dunst, who also starred in movies like “Bring It On,” “Wimbledon” and “Elizabethtown,” also thinks playing a romantic lead is a big ole snooze-fest.

“It’s just so boring. I think that was a time when the romantic comedy was so big. I knew it wasn’t for me. I just didn’t have fun making them. I guess it’s not in my DNA.”

Dunst also lets out a few verbal gems in regards to criticisms she’s gotten about her body over the years — one of which recently came directly from Coppola herself.

According to the profile, the director asked Dunst to lose a few pounds for her role in “Beguiled,” and she pretty much said, “Uh, no thanks.”

“It’s so much harder when you’re 35 and hate working out,” Dunst told the magazine. She then used the film’s location in Louisiana as an excuse for why she couldn’t shed the pounds.

“I’m eating fried chicken and McDonald’s before work. So I’m like, ‘We have no options! I’m sorry I can’t lose weight for this role,’” she said.

But it may have been Coppola’s influence that turned Dunst into the self-assured and outspoken woman she is today. In the interview, Dunst also recalls a compliment Coppola gave to her when the two first began working together in 1999 for the film “Virgin Suicides.”

“She said to me, ‘I love your teeth; don’t ever fix your teeth.’ I remember doing a ‘Spider-Man’ movie later, and one of the producers was like, ‘I need to take you to the dentist!’ They even fixed my teeth on the poster. But I just knew I was never doing that. Sofia is the chicest, coolest girl, and she thinks my teeth are great.”

She added, “She gave me confidence in little things that I wouldn’t necessarily have had.”

For the full interview, head to Variety. 

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When Sasha Ariel Alston pursued her love for coding, she noticed there were never many girls ― especially girls of color ― pursuing it, too. That’s why she decided to write a children’s book to encourage girls to learn about coding and STEM fields at an early age. 

Alston is a 19-year-old Pace University student getting a major in information systems and a minor in marketing. She spent two years writing Sasha Savvy Loves to Code, a kids’ book about a 10-year-old who becomes interested in coding, just like Alston.

“The purpose of the book is just to get girls interested in coding and to provide basic coding terms,” she said.

The teen told HuffPost that across her coding experiences she has noticed a “lack of diversity in terms of gender and race,” which motivated her to write the book. She also said her mom helped her come up with the idea after people continued to ask her to explain coding.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of what STEM is and what coding is,” she said. “I wanted to raise awareness of the acronym, specifically for girls.”

In the self-published book, which is illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, 10-year-old Sasha Savvy goes to coding camp with two friends after her mom, a software developer, gives her a peek at what it’s like to code. When Sasha learns she can create gaming apps by knowing how to code, she becomes ecstatic.

Alston raised money earlier this year on Kickstarter, meeting her goal of $5,000 in just four days. At the end of her campaign, Alston had raised more than $17,000. 

Alston told HuffPost she will receive the first physical copy of the book soon and then take care of orders for people who donated to her campaign. She hopes to have Sasha Savvy’s adventures available on Amazon by early June.

Once the book makes it way into the world, Alston wants her words and Sasha Savvy’s story to catch girls’ attention and encourage them to tackle their dreams.

“I just want them to know they can achieve whatever they want.”

H/T The Renewal Project

The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting.   

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Librarians hold a deceptively humble, yet powerful, role: Whether you’re a young child or an adult, a new student or an erudite academic, they offer guidance to rich worlds of literacy and scholarship. Librarians are on the front lines, putting a friendly face to the idea of book love and helping millions of Americans get the resources, encouragement and support they need to become avid readers. 

Who our librarians are, then, actually matters a great deal. In Kyle Cassidy’s new book This Is What a Librarian Looks Like, the photographer reveals portraits of hundreds of librarians, sharing both their sunny faces and their thoughts on the value of libraries. The result: a colorful tapestry of men and women of all ages, races and ethnicity, some dressed conservatively and some with tattoos and brightly dyed hair, but all bursting with smiles and enthusiasm for their life missions.

In his introduction, Cassidy writes that he began the project after one of his future subjects, Naomi Gonzales, asked him to attend an American Library Association meeting. “She promised me,” he recalls, “that librarians were both friendly and photogenic” ― a bold claim that is backed up by his project. His book, which features guest essays by writers like Jeff Vandermeer, Neil Gaiman and Amy Dickinson, doesn’t shy away from discussing the challenges libraries face in an era of threats to public funding and a rising emphasis on digital resources over print collections. Nonetheless, the tone is heartwarming and optimistic, encapsulating the idealistic value for the written word and commitment to equal opportunity that many associate with libraries.

Above all, the volume is a touching reminder of the loving human work that keeps our libraries thriving, ready to help us when we need them. Below, we’ve excerpted several portraits from This Is What a Librarian Looks Like:

Images and captions courtesy of Black Dog & Leventhal. This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Librarians, Communities, and Access to Information will be published on May 16 and will be available on Amazon or from your local indie bookstore ― or check your local library!

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Last September ― when the now president of the United States was still just the Republican nominee no one thought could actually win the election ― Jimmy Fallon welcomed Donald Trump on “The Tonight Show.” 

Instead of grilling him about his campaign or xenophobic stances, Fallon decided to rub Trump’s head and ruffle his hair. It didn’t go over well. 

The late-night host, who never spoke about the interview in the months following, has finally decided to share his side of the story. In a New York Times profile published Wednesday morning, Fallon admits that he should have addressed the criticism following Trump’s appearance right away, but he just wanted to keep a low profile. 

“I didn’t talk about it, and I should have talked about it,” he told the Times. “I regret that.”

Fallon said the hate online was deafening, and that it affected him much more than people thought.

“I didn’t do it to humanize him,” Fallon said of the Trump moment. “I almost did it to minimize him. I didn’t think that would be a compliment: ‘He did the thing that we all wanted to do.’”

“I’m a people pleaser,” he added, later in the piece. “If there’s one bad thing on Twitter about me, it will make me upset. So, after this happened, I was devastated. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to have fun.”

Fun is Fallon’s game. He’s never been the political type, nor is that where his strengths lie. His goal, says the 42-year-old, is to entertain, and he tries to do that in the best way he knows how: with “SNL”-like bits, sketches and celebrity drinking games.

“Jimmy is not a political comedian, so it would be very phony of him to go out and do long political joke rants just because that’s what some people want,” Tina Fey told the Times of her former colleague. “‘The Tonight Show’ has historically been a friendly, light show.”

I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to have fun.
Jimmy Fallon on that Trump interview

Fallon said he feels like his Trump controversy has “sailed,” and that maybe he missed the boat on making an impact on his viewers’ takes on it. But, ultimately, he will continue to do the show he’s always been producing.

“I tossed and turned for a couple of weeks, but I have to make people laugh,” he said. “People that voted for Trump watch my show as well.”

As of now, Fallon is trailing Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” in viewership. (In the week ending May 12, Colbert had a little over 3 million nightly viewers while Fallon had just under 2.7 million.) But Fallon is still leading in the coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic, which makes him want to work to maintain at least this stride. 

“We’re winning in something. People in the height requirement between 5-7 and 5-11, we’re No. 1, from 11:50 to 11:55,” he joked before sincerely adding, “I never, ever care. I’ll know when someone fires me.”

To read the full profile, head to The New York Times. 

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Lately, there’s been much ado about clutter. There’s too much of it; it’s everywhere! Our closets are cluttered, our newsfeeds our cluttered, our schedules are cluttered. Our dating lives are cluttered, too. How’s a young, single person supposed to navigate the cutie overload of Tinder et al, to slow down long enough to form a genuine connection?

And, if this is what life is like now ― go, go, go ― how are today’s stories to capture what it means to be a person in the world? If a story is meant to be realistic ― to mirror life as it is, rather than canting it to illuminate impurities ― can it even be entertaining anymore, or can it be nothing more than a portrait of app-fueled malaise?

Season 2 of “Master of None” manages to answer all of these questions artfully. In its 10 30-minute episodes, creators Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang bring us to Modena, Italy, then back to New York. We’re taken on a barrage of awkward first dates, and to one family’s Thanksgiving dinner table, which evolves as decades pass. The resulting collage is a plush image of modern life, its whirlwind moments and its moments of listlessness and isolation.

The show concedes that being a young person today does mean living amid clutter. Conversations between characters stray far from their own firsthand experiences, delving instead into the cultural references that busy their lives. There’s an entire episode that is structured around disparate groups of people coming together to see a Nic Cage blockbuster, a bad-good movie with a shockingly offensive twist. The cultural touchstone is everywhere, infiltrating cab ads and moments shared between friends.

In their short book What Was the Hipster? the editors of n+1 identified pastiche as one of the hallmarks of the hipster lifestyle. Whether or not Ansari has read their take, his choice to fill his realistic show with scenes centered on TV-making, TV-watching, video game-playing and “Friends” references makes the character’s stories feel true.

There are smaller, subtler ways in which “Master of None” generates the stifling sensation that input is everywhere ― Dev’s mildly grating text message ringer, for example, is always going off. But the show smartly includes long, painful stretches of technological silence, too. When Dev’s phone is stolen during Season 2’s first episode, just after he’s nabbed the number of a girl he met over lunch, he suddenly notices how engrossed everyone else is in their own phone-bound lives. In one of the show’s rare moments of absurdity, there’s even a close-up of an Italian man intimately smooching his device while Dev looks on in envy.

These moments of aimlessness and longing amid a dizzying haze of information are some of the most potent of the season. After an online date turns from promising to awkward, Dev sits alone in a cab, and everything’s silent but street sounds. During a trip north of New York City to Storm King, a permanent art installation, Dev and Francesca stare out at the leaves and quietly take in the scene. (And then, Dev quips about the spot’s WiFi password.) The show makes a conscious effort to punctuate periods of technological clutter with stretches of quiet, and in that way, it recreates the ebbs and flows of modern life.

Ansari isn’t the first storyteller to try to strike this balance of quick, clever banter and real, human feeling. In 2000, the literary critic James Wood wrote a controversial essay centered on Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. “A genre is hardening,” Wood wrote, and he continued to describe a group of authors ― including Smith, Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo and David Foster Wallace ― who write what he describes as “hysterical realism,” or realistic stories that reflect the noise of modern life without the feeling of human connections and individual struggles.  

Since Wood’s essay was written, there’ve been several commendable novels published that do manage to encompass both the quick clip of modernity and the listless lives of those caught in its grasp; Tony Tulathimutte’s Private Citizens and Tao Lin’s Taipei exemplify this type of storytelling. (It’s probably not a coincidence that both authors directly engage with life on the Internet.) But “Master of None” might be the only show to take on these topics in a manner that doesn’t make Tinder the butt of a joke. Instead, it’s just another part of the world that Dev moves through, publicly and privately. 

In one of this season’s strongest scenes (aside from the couple of near-perfect “bottle episodes” that have already been lovingly described elsewhere), Dev and his goofy bud Arnold are eating dinner at a world-famous restaurant, but each of them is unable to enjoy the meal, because, although they’re the only two people present, they’re separately engrossed in their own personal dramas. We as viewers know that each of them is bummed about his romantic prospects, but they each think the other is better off than themselves. That’s dramatic irony, and it’s often what engages us with a character’s struggles.

These dramas that fuel great stories may seem scarcer in a world of instant gratification; Romeo and Juliet could’ve shacked up for life, if only they had cell phones. But these little rifts between how we feel and what we say, what we hear and what we understand, are still everywhere. They’re in your perfectly lit Instagram of your runny, eggy brunch, they’re in the chipper string of emojis you send to an OK date, and they’re in the quiet Lyft trip, when you’re the only rider left.

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

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Heath Ledger wasn’t one to fall by the wayside. He was constantly pushing himself to be better, learn more and grow within an industry that typically only opens its gates for a select number of artists. 

In “I Am Heath Ledger,” the new documentary airing on Spike Wednesday night, viewers get a glimpse into Ledger’s personal goings-on and what he hoped to accomplish, not just as an actor, but as a “multidimensional artist,” before his tragic and untimely death at age 28 in January 2008. 

“The end game, ultimately, for Heath was to produce and direct feature films, and that passion was leading to some amazing opportunities for him and would have been something incredible for him to fulfill,” director Derik Murray told HuffPost in a sit-down interview following the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of “I Am Heath Ledger” last month. 

Matt Amato, Ledger’s friend who co-founded the production company The Masses with him, echoed that statement to HuffPost, explaining Ledger was ready “to flip the paradigm of this male-driven, macho bullshit culture that we’re drowning in” with his directorial debut, “The Queen’s Gambit,” which was sadly never made. The movie, based on the book of the same name, would have told the story of a woman who struggles with alcohol addiction as she works her way into the chess championships. 

“Matt and many of the [’I Am Heath Ledger’] cast would talk about the fact that Heath would be as interested in what the role had to offer as he was to who the director was,” Murray said of Ledger’s decision to take on certain projects. “He would look at those directors and he would be very much present during the filming and be learning from them each step of the way. He talked about how his passion was to be a director with ‘Queen’s Gambit,’ but it wasn’t to be.” 

Below, Murray, co-director Adrian Buitenhuis, and Amato talk with HuffPost about their documentary and Ledger’s craft, constantly alluding to the fact that everyone can learn a little something from the actor, who left this world far too soon. 

Congratulations on the premiere. Looks like it was a wonderful night. 

Derik Murray: I think what made the Tribeca premiere really special for all of us was that the family was there and many of the close friends that were interviewed for the movie. For many of them, that was the first time they saw the movie and so there was a lot of anticipation on our part as to how that would go ― not fearful, just anticipation — but it was fabulous. Everybody loved the movie.

Had Heath’s family been given the chance to see the film beforehand? 

DM: We showed Heath’s family a rough cut, frankly for the purposes of talking about archive and pulling more material together and making sure we had some of the facts straight. But also, with the trust we built with them, we wanted to extend that [option], so we showed them the rough cut and that was a very emotional experience for them. They called us at 1 o’clock in the morning, very emotional about the movie and very much at the state of mind that they had no idea what it was going to be — they couldn’t really visualize it — but the message loud and clear to us was that it was Heath. It really captured his spirit.

Matt, I’m truly sorry for your loss. This couldn’t have been necessarily easy for you. What was this film process like?

Matt Amato: I’m just coming out of the end of a six-month journey, and I’m relieved. The important thing for me was the family, and they love it, and now it’s about the audience’s feelings about the movie. It exists now for the audience and I hope it’s inspiring for young people to not waste a minute of their life — to really, live, live, live.

What did you want an audience member to leave the theater or a viewing of this film thinking or feeling?

Adrian Buitenhuis: I definitely wanted people to be inspired. Inspired to see what you can do in your life and what you’re capable of. And also to show someone who, even if they gained a lot of success ― at least in Heath’s case ― [didn’t] forget about his friends or his family and kept them really close. It’s a nice testament to how to have relationships in your life. He made everyone close to him feel special in a way. He never looked down on anyone, from what I can tell making the film, and was inspiring his friends to be better and they were inspiring him. To see him as an artist and his work, and being able to work with his work, was really great.

He’s kind of like a director of the movie in a way, because it’s a lot of his photography and footage that’s shown throughout.

DM: We’ve been talking about this for quite some time, is that Heath, in many ways when making the film, would direct the storyline with all the footage that came forward to us. We’ve been calling him a director/co-director/partner all the way through.

How did you go about gathering the photos and footage Heath captured?

DM: When we first started doing the research, we realized Heath was much more than just this star of his generation or his acting ability — he was a multidimensional artist. When we learned that, we did some research on Matt’s involvement and his relationship with Heath and The Masses and, in that world, Heath was in partnership creatively with Matt, in business, and doing some amazing work with music videos and working with various artists, and that was something that Heath was very passionate about. The end game, ultimately, for Heath was to produce and direct feature films together, and that passion was leading to some amazing opportunities for him and would have been something incredible for him to fulfill.

On the footage, through Matt, we had access to these music videos and then Matt was kind enough to open the door to some of the content that Heath had filmed and also content that had been filmed of Heath through his personal journey. That then basically started a dialogue with the family about the content that they might have through the estate and then friends stepped forward and provided us with their content, as well. So it was really a community effort that brought all that content together that you now see on the screen that captures Heath in an amazing way, through his own lens.

For those who only know Heath as an actor, it really opens those doors for you to see him as a human being.

MA: Yes, he was pretty wonderful. We talked a lot about directing and what we’d do if we moved forward with our company together ... Heath’s vision was an authentic vision. We were going on to make “The Queen’s Gambit,” which would’ve been his first movie, and I’m sure he was going to nail that. He was going to be working with his favorite cinematographer, Ed Lachman, who does amazing work with Todd Haynes. Heath was so turned on by how Todd works with Ed and he got a lot of clues about how we should work. He was not impressed with big money movies. He really liked how Todd worked with his producer, Christine Vachon, and all the sets and locations. A lot of times when Heath would do a movie, he would just completely drop off the map, because when you’re making a movie you have to stay focused and it’s like a 24-hour day, but I knew that he’d resurface when he was done. But with “I’m Not There,” he called me every day, like, “Man, we did that! And we did this! Oh my God, we’re making art!” He was just so thrilled to be working with Todd Haynes. So, as directors, we were very against the hierarchy kind of thing. When we did our music videos together with the crew, we would be the ones to go to Home Depot and get the mops and the brooms and get food for craft service, so when the crew would arrive, they’d see us doing that stuff …

DM: Heath Ledger on craft service!

AB: That was probably a mean craft service.

MA: Yeah, he really cared about people. But then, once we got there, we would work to his max. Then, he would never really care about people’s complaints, you know, because we had set the bar. His energy and passion is something I think about all the time when I have a camera in my hands. Heath really kicks my butt.

It seems he inspires you to this day. 

MA: I was working on the day he died, on a Bon Iver video in Wisconsin. I didn’t know what to do at that point — the world was just kind of turned upside down in one moment. I really thought long and hard about what I was so supposed to do — stay or go to LA or New York? And I thought to myself, “Well, what would Heath want me to do?” He wants me to shoot with a camera and create something beautiful, that’s what he wants me to do. He doesn’t want me to stop and worry and be sad. So from the moment he died, he was kicking my butt, and he still does it. He gives me the energy to work harder, to explore camera angles and shots, to push myself to make something as excellent as it could possibly be.

The whole thing about Heath’s intelligence and his growth, each movie he did he became smarter — he was really absorbing everything. And that was big for a young person to not come off as a know-it-all or be threatened. He wanted to know. And that curiosity allowed him to be open and get really, really smart. I believe that by the time he died, he was quite brilliant. 

His energy and passion is something I think about all the time when I have a camera in my hands, Heath really kicks my butt.
Matt Amato on Heath Ledger

It would have been nice to see what “The Queen’s Gambit” could have been.

MA: Hopefully we’ll make “Queen’s Gambit.” We’ll do it in St. Louis, with Ed Lachman. St. Louis has now become the chess capital of the world ... My little work co-op is right around the corner and there’s the world’s largest chess piece there, and it’s the Queen. It’s like right there, and I look at it and I’m like, “I’m no dummy! I can see the sign!” It’s about a young women, and we really wanted to flip the paradigm of this male-driven, macho bullshit culture that we’re drowning in. I feel like our culture really needs nurturing in this way and we need to be reflective and look at people and deal with people like this.

AB: You guys valued the fact that there was a big community of artists in LA who valued the stuff that didn’t have a place to come together.

MA: Yeah. Heath was ready to chuck LA for the next chapter. He wanted it to be in Brooklyn so he could be near [his daughter with Michelle Williams] Matilda. He was ready to leave all that behind. 

I loved that the film focused on his life and his art at the end, rather than the media circus that surrounded his death.

DM: It’s interesting because we’re doing, and have been doing, a lot of work of this kind where we work with the families and estates. But this film, when the assembly was coming together, there was all sorts of media clips that were helpful in moving the story forward, but Heath’s footage really just kind of took a hold, took a different spirit, and said, “This is the path we’re going to go down.” It was clear that the media footage was completely in contrast with who Heath was. We already learned in the film that it was something he wasn’t comfortable with, so you’re really seeing the true Heath in these one-on-ones or sit-down interviews. As we started pulling those out and letting it breathe, and giving more space to Heath to tell the story, the film really became and transformed itself into the film it is today.

MA: And music was really important to me. I really wanted to flood this production with music. Music that he was responsive to. I wanted music to sail us over the sad parts ― because music can do that, it does transcend. Bon Iver is one of the greatest musicians in the world today and to have his music in our movie is such a gift.

DM: Two fabulous Ben Harper songs are in the film, we’ve got two Bon Iver songs — they’re there for a purpose and a reason, and they’re beautiful. Their compliment to the story is incredible.

MA: Mia Doi Todd, Carlos Niño, Edward Sharpe. These were all people that Heath admired, and there were more to put in, but we had to stop some place.

AB: All the artists were so generous because either Heath had a big impact on their lives or they were just inspired to be a part of it and lend their music to the project. It was a real collective. The same way people brought the footage together, musicians were coming and saying, “Yeah this is important, let’s do this.” And that was great.

DM: That’s why the cast is so eclectic, you know, it’s not just driven by actors that were working with him on films. It has that music component to a significant degree.

To see the moving documentary on Heath Ledger’s life, tune in to Spike at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 17. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

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A lot of little kids love to play dress-up, but 3-year-old Scout Larson takes it to the next level.

The Florida toddler dresses up as famous icons like Carrie Fisher, Frida Kahlo, David Bowie, and Malala Yousafzai and recreates some of their classic photos.

Scout’s mom, Ashley Jinks Larson, told HuffPost her daughter has always loved wearing different outfits and costumes and posing for photo shoots. She said the icons project started after her own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. 

“I started doing the photos mostly to keep our minds busy while we were all dealing with a tough time,” the mom said. “We shot mostly fierce women, because I wanted to replicate that strength in Scout. I wanted to have photos to show Scout that women are amazing and tough, just like her Nonnie (my mom). I’m happy to announce that my mom is cancer free now!”

Ashley posts Scout’s icon photos on an Instagram account she runs. To recreate the famous looks, the mom uses a combination of clothes they already have, borrowed items and new purchases.

Scout is a big fan of fashion. “Right now, her big thing is rain boots,” said Ashley. “Rain or shine, she’s wearing her rainbow-striped rain boots.”

The mom said her daughter is “full of personality” and “wears her heart on her sleeve.”

“She is almost always laughing and her dimples are seriously the cutest thing ever,” she explained. “I’d say my favorite thing about her, though, is her ability to make friends. Everywhere we go, she’s striking up a conversation.”

She added that the little girl is sweet and compassionate and tends to act like “the little mommy” always looking out for her two brothers.

Ashley said she hopes people who see Scout’s photos see that girls can be “fierce, funny, smart or whatever they decide they’d like to be.”

“In our society, it’s easy for women ― or anyone, honestly ― to think that beauty is the most important attribute a person can have,” the mom told HuffPost. “I’m doing my best to teach Scout that intelligence and resilience are more important than looks.”

“Most of the time when I tell her that she’s beautiful, she corrects me and says ‘I’m smart, too!’” Ashley added. “She’s a pretty rad 3 year old!”

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Karen Mason is channeling her passion for equal rights into her music.  

The Broadway singer-actress, who is best known for her roles in “Mamma Mia!” and “Sunset Boulevard,” croons a tender ode to marriage equality on her new album, “It’s About Time.” “Feels like we have wait 20 lifetimes, wishing for this moment to be real,” Mason sings on the title track, as seen in the video above. “And now we’re stepping into the spotlight to celebrate the way we truly feel.” 

Mason told HuffPost she first performed “It’s About Time” at the wedding of two gay friends shortly after same-sex couples won the right to legally marry in New York state in 2011. Given the challenges that the LGBTQ community is currently facing, she felt it was appropriate to reprise the song on her album, which hit retailers March 7. 

“Equality is important to me, as it should be to everyone,” Mason said of the song, which was written by her husband, Paul Rolnick, and Shelly Markham. “Marriage is such an intimate relationship and has been guarded so preciously by some heterosexuals in our society as the last bastion of ‘normalcy,’ whatever that word means. I refuse to make those judgements, especially when it concerns love.” 

The album also features a number of standards most associated with Judy Garland, including “The Man That Got Away” and “Over The Rainbow.” Mason, who has performed much of the Garland songbook in concert, said she felt her new tune fit in perfectly with the “storytelling” feel of the classic repertoire. Ultimately, she hopes listeners will view “It’s About Time” simply as a poignant reminder that “it is really just all about love” rather than a political gesture.

“If someone listens to the words of this song, they will hear a beautiful song about the chance to finally say ‘I love you’ to the world,” she told HuffPost. “How can anyone deny and refuse wanting to love someone else? I’ve never understood that.” 

Karen Mason will perform songs from “It’s About Time” at New York’s Don’t Tell Mama every Sunday and Monday through May 29. She’ll also appear at Davenport’s Piano Bar and Cabaret in Chicago through May 20 and at The Rrazz Room in New Hope, Pennsylvania on June 10. 

For the latest in LGBTQ entertainment, check out the Queer Voices newsletter.  

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For Mother’s Day, Amber Tamblyn wrote an emotional poem for her daughter about the day she welcomed her via C-section.

Tamblyn announced she gave birth to her daughter, Marlow, in February. In her poem Y for Yes, which was published on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, the actress and activist addresses her daughter and explains how her “abdomen opened” and how she “blinked” her into being, “like an eye.”

“Yes, after you dripped loose, they stapled me closed with two dozen metal eyelashes batting into my skin,” she wrote.

Tamblyn, who has written poetry since she was a kid, also mentions marching at the Women’s March on Washington while pregnant with Marlow and vows to teach her beauty “by a different definition.” In one of the most powerful parts of the poem, the poet repeatedly references her C-section and asks, “How can it be explained? What a woman sees when her body’s eye opens just once then shuts?”

At the end of her ode to Marlow, Tamblyn explains that realistically she won’t be able to protect her from everything and that she’ll be there for some of her pain, but not all of it. One constant, though, will be her love for her. 

“I love you bigger and brighter than a new galaxy’s birth.”

Read the poem in full at Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. 

The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting.   

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Netflix has a new drama series in the works, derived from a popular fantasy series called “The Witcher” saga. The network announced it will adapt Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s eight-book series into a show.

“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing,” Sapkowski said in a statement. “I’m excited about our efforts together, as well as the team assembled to shepherd these characters to life.”

That source material includes three short-story collections and five novels, all centered on its noir-inspired antihero, Geralt, who’s spent his life hunting monsters.

A review of the stories from Fantasy Book Review U.K. notes that the characters’ “codes of behavior” bear comparisons to Slavic mythology. The books ― which were written in Polish in the mid-’80s and early ‘90s ― have been rolled out in America and the U.K. since 2007.  The books have been translated into more than 20 languages. The seventh book of the series, Lady of the Lake, was released in English in March, from science-fiction imprint Orbit.

Netflix often relies on books with pre-established fan bases for its series’ source material. Its recent adaptations include “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Girlboss” and “Anne with an E.”

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This is not one of Sheldon’s emergency preparedness drills. There are no bazingas coming. This is real, people.

We finally have the first images of the upcoming “Big Bang Theory” spinoff, “Young Sheldon.” Ladies, gentlemen, Klingons and everyone else, without further ado ...

Tada!

The CBS show stars Iain Armitage as a 9-year-old version of the character living with his family in East Texas and attending high school. This new photo appears to show “genius” Sheldon preparing for his first day of class.

Sheldon obviously looks much different since he’s only a kid on the show, but the original Sheldon won’t be far away. Jim Parsons will narrate the series and serve as executive producer with Chuck Lorre, Steve Molaro and Todd Spiewak. Jon Favreau will direct the pilot.

Another photo shows Sheldon with his mom, played by Zoe Perry. The role was originally played by Laurie Metcalf on “Big Bang Theory.”

According to reports, other characters you can expect to see in “Young Sheldon” include Sheldon’s various family members. His father George Sr. is played by Lance Barber and his siblings, Georgie and Missy, will be played by Montana Jordan and Raegan Revord, respectively.

Overall, the show sounds like the ‘90s sitcom “Smart Guy,” in which Tahj Mowry played a young genius also going to high school. “Smart Guy” was great, so we have high hopes.

From the looks of Sheldon living it up with a train set, it appears he has high hopes, too. All aboard! 

“Young Sheldon” premieres after “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS Monday, Sept. 25, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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Let’s face it: Smiling doesn’t come easy for a lot of people, least of all those dour souls born before cameras were invented.

Those suckers had to spend long hours posing for portraits, so no wonder they look miserable.

But one art lover in England is using modern technology to help those unhappy-looking portraits and sculptures turn their centuries-old frowns upside-down.

Olly Gibbs, 27, recently used a facial recognition feature on his mobile phone to digitally alter the historical masterpieces at the world-famous Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Gibbs was inspired to make classical artworks seem a little more peppy while taking a photo at an old church tower in Amsterdam.

“We took a photo and she looked great but I didn’t,” he told South West News Service. “She said, ‘Don’t worry,’ and pressed a button and the FaceApp did it straight away and I looked really genuinely happy.”

When Gibbs went to the museum, he was struck by how sad they all looked.

“I just saw the paintings and thought they all looked quite miserable,” he said, adding that it was probably because “the sitters have to sit there for a long time!” he said.

Gibbs felt sympathetic towards these gloomy-looking subjects in these classic works of art, and realized he could help.

“I thought, ‘Yeah, I can fix that.’ We were like children in the museum,” he said.

Gibbs and his girlfriend then went through the museum looking for the glummest-looking portraits.

Although some art purists might frown upon changing these works of art from the original creators’ intent ― even in a virtual sense ― but Gibbs thinks he’s doing a good thing.

“It felt like what we were doing was a cheap way of giving them new life,” he said. “It just changes the whole aspect of the art, it was interesting to try and do it and when we did with a sculpture it worked.” 

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