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Choir's Impromptu Performance Inside A Reptile House Is A Beautiful Surprise

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When the Harding University choir visited the Cincinnati Zoo, the second oldest zoo in the country, they were likely just hoping to have a fun day off and get a glimpse of the facility's white lions and Komodo dragons.

Instead, while exploring, a few students noticed that the zoo's Reptile House had really great acoustics and texted the other members to come and join them.

We're not entirely sure what the memory span of a king cobra is, but it's safe to say that this rendition of "Down In The River To Pray" is one we'll remember.

[h/t Viral Viral Videos]

Is Banksy Headed To Russia Just In Time For The Olympics?

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Incognito street artist Banksy is rumored to be making his next “appearance” in Russia’s capital.

Word of the visit spread on Jan. 10 after the Russian government’s radio broadcasting service Voice of Russia promoted Banksy's alleged exhibit at the Manezh Exhibition Center in Moscow. But some aren't so sure the details are legit.

“Since the announcement is not on Banksy’s official site, but on a government-controlled outlet via source with highly questionable cred — this 'exhibition' is either an unauthorized display of 130 'acquired' objects or a complete [bulls**t] rumor,” Animal New York wrote in response to the alleged exhibit.

The Voice Of Russia’s only source was Vitaly Borisov, founder of street-art group Letscolors, who upheld the exhibit as one of the country’s biggest art events to date.

“I think it will be one of the largest cultural events in Russia and I’m sure that plenty of people not only from Moscow, but from other cities and countries will come to see this exhibition,” Borisov told the outlet.

If the rumor is true, Banksy's show could fall just in time for next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Off the heels of his month-long New York City residency, Banksy was rumored to have started a similar street art campaign in Paris in December. However, the Twittersphere soon erupted with accusations that his alleged visit to France was all a hoax.

Childish Gambino Debuts 'Chicken And Futility,' New Short Film

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Childish Gambino, A.K.A. Donald Glover, is back with a brand new short film, "Chicken and Futility." The three-minute long film shows Glover and two friends discussing Chick-fil-A, moths and the moon -- while spending a lazy Sunday indoors.

This is not the "Community" actor's first foray into directing. In 2013, he released a 24-minute short film titled, "Clapping for the Wrong Reasons," in which he starred alongside Chance The Rapper and Danielle Fishel.

Glover will depart from his iconic role on "Community" in the show's fifth season, only appearing in five of its scheduled 13 episodes, in order to pursue new projects. In 2013, he announced that he would be creating and starring in a new show for FX, tentatively titled "Atlanta." In December of 2013, he released his latest studio album titled, "Because the Internet."

Foster The People Announces New Album 'Supermodel,' Drops Single 'Coming Of Age'

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Foster The People has released the first single, "Coming Of Age," off of their highly anticipated sophomore album, "Supermodel." While Mark Foster told Rolling Stone in an interview last November that it will "not be the record people expect," the single certainly fits right in where 2011's "Torches" left off. Yet, with only the first taste of "Supermodel," and Foster promising a "polarizing" album that is "more organic and more in the vein of the Pixies and Clash and stuff," expectations of the album's sound is still up in the air. You can listen to the single (and watch the accompanying time-lapse video) and check out the album tracklist below. The album is available for purchase on March 14.



"Supermodel" tracklist:

1. Are You What You Want to Be
2. Ask Yourself
3. Coming of Age
4. Nevermind
5. The Angelic Welcome of Mr. Jones
6. Best Friend
7. A Beginner’s Guide to Destroying the Moon
8. Goats In Trees
9. The Truth
10. Fire Escape
11. Tabloid Super Junky

Cam Anthony, 12-Year-Old With 'Golden Voice,' Performs For Ellen DeGeneres

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Prepare to be taken aback by this prodigious, pint-sized crooner.

Ellen DeGeneres first spotted the incredible talents of Cam Anthony on YouTube. She hailed the 12-year-old with the "golden voice," giving him a chance to experience the "best thing ever" with a live performance on daytime television.

As part of her Talented Kids series, Ellen invited the burgeoning young star to perform Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up."

Anthony has been singing since the ripe old age of four, and says his parents first noticed his abilities when they heard him sing the "Folgers in your Cup" commercial.

There is no denying this kid is going to be big, and after seeing his performance you'll most likely become one of his many new fans.

Anthony got some useful advice from his math teacher, who told him that it's "always good to be true to yourself, and make sure you are always true to the people who were there from the beginning."

Imelda Marcos Aide Gets Prison In New York Art Scheme

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NEW YORK (AP) — A former aide to ex-Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos was sentenced Monday to two to six years in prison after being convicted of scheming to sell a $32 million Claude Monet painting overlaid with political intrigue: It's part of a roster of valuables the Philippine government has sought to reclaim from the former first couple.

Prosecutors have said the ex-assistant, Vilma Bautista, greedily peddled misbegotten treasure. Defense lawyers said she was caught up in a clash between a government and its ousted leader. Bautista plans to appeal and has "substantial issues" to raise, defense attorneys Susan and Fran Hoffinger said after the sentencing.

Bautista also was ordered to pay about $3.5 million in state taxes. She was convicted in November of charges including conspiracy and tax fraud.

The case "finally solves the mystery of what happened to four masterpieces of Impressionist art," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said then.

The 1899 Monet, from the French painter's famed "Water Lilies" series, and other art ended up in Bautista's hands after vanishing when a 1986 "people power" revolt sent longtime President Ferdinand Marcos into exile in Hawaii. He died three years later.

During his two decades in power, his wife became known for excess, symbolized by her gargantuan shoe collection.

The Philippines claims the Marcoses acquired billions of dollars' worth of property with the nation's money. The country has spent years seizing companies, bank accounts and other assets believed to be part of that trove.

The Marcoses denied their wealth was ill-gotten, and Imelda Marcos has emerged relatively unscathed from hundreds of legal cases against her and her late husband. She is now a congresswoman in the Philippines.

Bautista was a foreign service officer assigned to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and later served as Imelda Marcos' New York-based personal secretary.

By 2009, Bautista was mired in debt, and prosecutors said she resorted to trying to sell four paintings the Marcoses had acquired during the presidency. Besides the water lily painting, they included another Monet and works by Alfred Sisley and Albert Marquet.

Bautista ultimately sold the water lily painting — "Le Bassin aux Nymphease," also known as "Japanese Footbridge Over the Water-Lily Pond at Giverny" — for $32 million to a Swiss buyer. Some proceeds went to Bautista's debts, relatives and associates, and $15 million stayed in her bank accounts, prosecutors said.

They said Imelda Marcos, who didn't testify at Bautista's trial, knew nothing of the sale.

Bautista's lawyers said she believed that Imelda Marcos rightfully owned the paintings and that Bautista had authority to sell them for her. Bautista never had a chance to give Marcos the money, the defense said.

The artworks' ownership is being determined in civil courts.

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Reach Jennifer Peltz on Twitter @jennpeltz.

Day-To-Night Photo Of San Francisco Bay Is Absolutely Breathtaking

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Whether it’s magic hour on the waterfront or light show time on the Bay Bridge, it’s hard to deny that San Francisco is one of our most photogenic cities. This latest piece in photographer Stephen Wilkes' “Day to Night” series encapsulates the city’s boundless beauty with the added excitement of the final leg of September’s America’s Cup.

"I have always wanted to do a day-to-night of San Francisco, and the America's Cup created a unique opportunity to use my day-to-night technique," Wilkes said. "In the foreground, I typically work with a park or city street, but here, the foreground was the race –- the narrative arc."

According to Wilkes, the Coast Guard’s familiarity with his work gained him access to a unique vantage point from the lighthouse balcony on Alcatraz, a spot he believes few other photographers have been allowed to shoot from.

"You can see the race based on specific moments in time," Wilkes said of his time-lapse photo. "I was very conscious of where each boat was and when," noting Oracle Team USA 17’s spectacular comeback at the end of the race.

Fans of the piece can look forward to Wilkes’ next day-to-night piece: a “visual retelling of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, shot from the top of the Time Warner Center.”

Flea Asks 'Anybody Wanna See My C--k At The Super Bowl' After Halftime Show Announcement

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Ten years after Janet Jackson's "Nipplegate," the NFL might want to prepare themselves for the possibility of "Penisgate" at this year's Super Bowl.

Last week came the announcement that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would join Bruno Mars on stage during the halftime show on Feb. 2. On Monday, the band's bassist, Flea, posed an interesting question on Twitter:

"Anybody wanna see my cock at the Super Bowl?" the 51-year-old asked his nearly one million Twitter followers.

HuffPost Entertainment has reached out to the band's rep for comment regarding the tweet, which has since been deleted.

The fact that Flea (who in the band's early years performed naked, save for a strategically placed tube sock) deleted the tweet so quickly could be tied to the NFL's anxiety over ensuring a family-friendly halftime show in the wake of "scandals" of years past.

Aside from Jackson's 2004 wardrobe malfunction, the NFL is currently suing M.I.A. for a reported $1.5 million in damages for flashing her middle finger while performing alongside Madonna and Nicki Minaj at the 2012 halftime show. The legal battle has been raging on for more than a year, with the NFL apparently arguing M.I.A. breached her contract with the organization and damaged its reputation.

"Of course, the NFL's claimed reputation for wholesomeness is hilarious in light of the weekly felonies committed by its stars, the bounties placed by coaches on opposing players, the homophobic and racist comments uttered by its players, the complete disregard for the health of players and the premature deaths that have resulted from same, and the raping of public entities ready to sacrifice public funds to attract teams," Howard King, lawyer for M.I.A., told THR about the lawsuit last year.

These Photos Prove Nature Is Beautiful, Even When Humans Are Destroying It

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Sometimes the prettiest things can be found in the ugliest of circumstances. Take human pollution, for example. Don't get us wrong, pollution remains one of the worst plagues humankind has put on this planet. Consider this: Air pollution alone kills over two million people a year. But the devastation of oil spills, air and light pollution, waste and the negative environmental impact we create often strangely result in compelling imagery. Check out these breathtaking photos of the toll humans have taken on the Earth.

Light pollution in Ruka, Northern Finland

Light Pollution

Light pollution is any artificial light that intrudes a natural light environment. Sometimes our intrusion can be beautiful.


Catching waves of trash in Indonesia

trashwave

Photographer Zac Noyle took this photo of surfer Dede Surinaya riding a trash-infested wave in a remote Indonesian bay. The bay was miles from any town, yet strong currents had carried the trash of the world’s most populated island, Java, to its once pure waters.


Coal fueled fiddlers emit vapor

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This photo shows vapor emitting from a power station at night in Warrington, United Kingdom.


An aerial view of a strip mine

black and white mining

This photo, taken in June 2013, shows excavation terraces, buildings and mining equipment of a strip mine.


A pile of millions of used tires in Seseña, Spain

Tire pollution

This photo, taken in January 2013, shows an area of Spain, near Madrid, that is known for its great views. Today, this massive pile of used tires corrupts the area. The pile started in the 1990's when a company started using the site as a "temporary" place for old tired to be recycles. The pile is starting to look pretty "permanent" to us...


An oil spill in Qingdao, China

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The red barrier is used to prevent oil from seeping into the sea after a spill created by a pipeline explosion on November 23, 2013.


A view of a forest fire's aftermath

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This is an aerial view of smoke from a forest fire allegedly caused by farmers and cattle ranch owners in the Jamanxim National Florest in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.


A solitary tree stands after deforestation

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In Brazil, a single remaining Amazon rainforest tree stands in a deforested section of the forst in Para State. As of June 2012, 20 percent of the rainforest had already been destroyed.


A child plays in an algae-covered beach in China

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Every year, large amounts of non-poisonous algae covers the Qingdao coast of China. Once this specific type of algae starts proliferating, it's very hard to stop it. Tim Nelson, a biology professor at Seattle Pacific University, told the Los Angeles Times that the bloom is sparked by nutrients that may either be naturally occurring, coming from deep parts of the ocean, or by fertilizer washing into the sea from farms, golf courses and gardens.


Oil-covered sand in Ko Samet, Thailand

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A shovel sits in oil-drenched sand in Thailand on July 31, 2013. Workers geared up in protective suits and used shovels, hoses and buckets to try and clean up the blackened sand after a major pipeline leak.


A huge pile of ivory trinkets in Denver

ivory

Millions of dollars' worth of intricately carved figurines, bracelets and other trinkets are seen before being fed into a rock-crushing machine in November 2013 at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, in an attempt to combat wildlife trafficking and stop elephant poaching.


A sunny and clear display cuts through China's smog

Pollution in China

In January 2013, during a time of dangerous levels of air pollution, a bright video screen in Tiananmen Square shows an unreachable paradise.


Salt Lake City light pollution

Salt Lake Light Pollution Seen From Park City

According to the photographer, the sun had been down for hours when this photo was taken. The photographer was at a "star party," which was ruined by the light pollution.


Hundreds of shark fins drying in the sun

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These shark fins are drying in Manta, Ecuador, where thousands of shark fins are sold every morning. "Shark fin soup" is popular in China as a seafood delicacy. While targeted shark fin catching is illegal, a presidential decree in Ecuador allows free trade of shark fins from accidental by-catch. Most of the shark species fished in Ecuadorean waters are considered as “vulnerable to extinction” by the World Conservation Union (IUCN)


Pollutants in the Gowanus Canal

gowanus canal

Pollutants are seen here on the surface of the canal. The Brooklyn canal is one of the "most extensively contaminated" waterways in America, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.


A tiger's skin set on fire

skins seized

In 2001 on World Environment Day, environmentalists seized a tiger skin from poachers in Bombay, India and burnt it as a symbolic message to wildlife traders and poachers against hunting.


An oil slick in New Orleans

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Clouds reflect in a pool of oil from a spill in November 2011.


Industrial waste foam in New Delhi

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Indian men bathe in the industrial waste-foam polluted section of the Yamuna River on May 24, 2013. According the Central Pollution Control Board of India, the main reason for this pollution is because the river intersects various urban centers of India, like Delhi, Mathura and Agra, and a lot of waste from these areas is disposed off into the river.


Container ship Rena goes down

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The shipping container, MV Rena, struck Astrolabe Reef on October 5, 2011. It spilled 350 tons of oil and almost 100 shipping containers.


A surfer encounters cargo from Rena

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Three months after the ship sank, a man surfs among cargo containers that washed ashore in Waihi Beach, New Zealand.


A mountaintop coal mining operation in West Virginia

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This photo shows "mountaintop removal mining" -- a process that involves using explosives to remove up to 1,000 vertical feet of rock to get to the coal. The debris is often moved into the adjacent river valleys, called a valley fill.


Light pollution in the Canary Islands

Light Pollution

Did you know that turning on so many lights may not be necessary? Researchers have estimated that over-illumination wastes the equivalent of about 2 million barrels of oil per day. You could help astronomers study the stars better if you just turn off some lights when you're not using them.

Stunning Side-By-Side Look At London In 1927 And 2013 (VIDEO)

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You may not be able to actually travel through time, but this video will get you pretty close.

86 years ago, filmmaker Claude-Friese Greene released "The Open Road," a famous collection of films he took on an early color film camera.

Then, at the beginning of last year, London-based director Simon Smith followed Greene's route through London on his way to making his own version of "The Open Road." After collecting a series of shots from the same places Greene did, Smith laid the two films side-by-side for an incredible look at two far apart generations.

While the people of London and the vehicles they drive look quite different, the video also sheds light on some continuity in the city.

Many shots, aside from the quality of film or the placement of a stoplight, look eerily similar.

VCU Peppas Band Performs 'Wrecking Ball' And Then Throws Up A Space Kitten Banner (VIDEO)

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What better way to pump up the university basketball team than with a rendition of "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus and a giant space kitten to go with it.

Virginia Commonwealth University's pep band, the Peppas, performed Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" at the Dec. 28, 2013 game against Boston College in New York City. They later played the song in a game against George Mason University on Jan. 9.

The VCU Peppas is considered one of the most entertaining pep bands in college basketball, and in this case, they didn't stop with the song.

At the game against George Mason, they deployed a giant space kitten banner reminicent of Cyrus' performance at the American Music Awards.




The band also reportedly yelled "meow" during George Mason free throws:





Nicely done, Peppas.

'Devil Baby' Prank Scares The Bejesus Out Of New Yorkers (VIDEO)

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Hear a baby crying in an unattended stroller on the street? Of course you should investigate it. Just be warned that said baby might be part of a viral marketing stunt that will scare the living bejesus out of you.

The folks at Thinkmodo rigged this remote-controlled stroller with a demonic animatronic infant, replete with the ability to headbang, vomit, and just look downright possessed:



When the Thinkmodo team took their creation to the streets of New York, many a Good Samaritan fell victim to the devilish prank, and the reactions are priceless. (Our favorite reaction is at the one-minute mark.)

You might remember Thinkmodo from their last viral video creation: the telekinetic coffee shop prank in Manhattan, which, as it turned out, was a promotion for the movie "Carrie."

And lo and behold, turns out "Devil Baby Attack" is also part of a promotion, this time for found-footage horror film, "Devil's Due," which opens this weekend.

Thinkmodo founder, Michael Krivicka, told Yahoo News that he thought the project "was an interesting social experiment to see how many people would bother to check on an abandoned stroller."

We will definitely still be checking every abandoned stroller we see, but if we come across this little guy, we're sending him straight to daycare.

H/T Laughing Squid

Are 'The Teletubbies' Headed For North Korea?

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Though Dennis Rodman failed to singlehandedly transform the West's relationship with North Korea, another unlikely group of colorful 1990s "diplomats" might be able do the trick.

Remember Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po? They've been M.I.A. for most of the last decade, but it seems The Teletubbies may be heading to North Korea on a diplomatic mission to “improve [North Koreans'] understanding about the outside world,” according to the British Foreign Secretary.

Joining their delegation will be "Dr. Who," "Mr. Bean" and the entire cast of "EastEnders."

In all seriousness, BBC Worldwide is negotiating a broadcasting deal with North Korea's state-run media agency, DPRK. Its aim: to bring several light-hearted television programs — like the previously mentioned Teletubbies — to one of the most strictly controlled countries in the world. And perhaps television is the first step toward normalization with the rest of the world.

Reported in The Independent:

“I have always believed," said a senior source at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), "that what brought down the Berlin Wall was not highbrow diplomacy but 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty'."

The Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman called the move a "good use of British soft power," indicating the U.K. may hope to influence North Korea more through cooption than coercion.

The logic, then, is thus: Show North Koreans "Mr. Bean" and they'll dream up their own witty, episodic fantasy — because that's how life works, right?

Once TV viewers in North Korea ostensibly fall in love with British television, though, there's still the problem of their totalitarian government. Disturbing reports from North Korea surfaced in November 2013 about 80 public executions of people accused of watching unsanctioned TV.

One North Korea Intellectual Solidarity official told AFP, "The regime is obviously afraid of potential changes in people's mindsets and is pre-emptively trying to scare people off."

Icelight Toronto Time-Lapse Highlights Frozen City's Icy Aftermath (VIDEO)

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Eastern Canada's 2013 ice storm may have been destructive, but one photographer has taken an artistic look at what the sub-zero weather left in its wake.

Gavin Heffernan was visiting his Toronto home during the holiday season storm, and decided to document the damage with a time-lapse. Heffernan is no stranger to time-lapses, according to his website, typically documenting star trails. But what he saw over the Christmas break was unparalleled.

"I managed to bundle up and face the insanely cold temperatures to get some time lapses and document the damage—including a massive tree that crashed through the fence in our own yard and a huge array of destruction unlike anything I've ever witnessed," Heffernan wrote in the video's description.

While the images of frozen trees set across blue hues are pretty, the ice storm's aftermath is also costing Toronto a pretty penny.

On Monday, Toronto City Council voted unanimously to declare Toronto a "disaster area" following the damage caused by the ice storm as well as a summer 2013 flood. It also asked the provincial and federal governments to split the $170 million three ways.

So come to Toronto, a city known for its colourful mayor and the CN Tower, but stay for the beautiful icicles (because the storm probably grounded your flight).

Mobile readers can watch the video here.

PLUMEN 002 Is The CFL You'd Actually Want To Use (And Look At On A Daily Basis)

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If you like the energy-saving benefits of a CFL but kind of hate the light emitted from the bulbs, we present you with a lovely compromise: The PLUMEN 002.

plumen 002

The low-energy bulb emits a warm glow that's equivalent to a 30W incandescent. It's better for mood lighting, rather than task lighting (for the latter, look to PLUMEN 001, which has the equivalent output of a 60W incandescent). Even better, the sculptural glass construction is much nicer to look at than the standard CFL, making this a much-needed solution for pendant lights and other fixtures that feature an exposed bulb. And the kicker? It works on a dimmer.

PLUMEN is raising funds to produce the 002 via Kickstarter, with estimated availability to backers in July.

Everything You Need To Know About Johnny Depp's 'Doctor Strange' Rumor

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Johnny Depp and "Doctor Strange" had a date with Hollywood trade journalists on Tuesday, following a report from the website Latino Review that claimed Depp had met with Marvel to discuss the property.

"A well-connected source informed me tonight that Johnny Depp has taken a meeting with Marvel to discuss taking on the role of Dr. Strange," Latino Review's Mario-Francisco Robles wrote in his piece. In breaking the story, Robles acknowledged that Depp's involvement in "Doctor Strange" would require some scheduling gymnastics, owing to the fact that he's attached to another "Pirates of the Caribbean" film as well as "Alice in Wonderland 2," projects that would conflict with Marvel's timeline for the comic adaptation. (Marvel is owned by Disney, the studio behind Depp's blockbuster franchises.) "While they have Depp on the hook for another Pirates film, it is believed they would shift that production around if he does agree to sign on the dotted line for Marvel," Robles noted.

The Latino Review story was later confirmed by Variety, until it wasn't: the trade, which initially wrote that a meeting between Depp and Marvel took place, walked back its story. "Sources tell Variety that such talks have yet to take place and any possibility of such a pairing is premature," Marc Graser wrote for Variety.

That was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit on Twitter:







Deadline.com's Mike Fleming weighed in as well. "The story’s being bannered by Variety online, but don’t dress for it," he wrote in a three-sentence post that also confirmed the Depp was contacted by Marvel, but talks "never went anywhere." (Variety and Deadline.com are both owned by Penske Media Corporation.)

All of which brings us back to the original Latino Review report:










For more on the Depp rumor-non-rumor-rumor, head to Latino Review.

Nifty Comic Perfectly Explains How To Look At Art

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All too often we wander into a museum hoping, if not expecting, to leave somewhat different than we entered. And still the challenge remains: In a sea of wondrous, potentially transformative artwork, how do we go about actually looking at it?

We're happy to report comic artist Grant Snider has come to our aid, providing us with a smile-inducing pictorial guide to respectfully admiring an objet d'art.

how to look at art


Are you suddenly inspired to hop over to the nearest sculpture garden and appreciate some abstraction? Let us know in the comments.

See more of Snyder's work in the slideshow below:

This Peter Pan Proposed To His Wendy And Made Us Believe In Fairy Tale Endings

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While playing Peter Pan for a packed theater in Glasgow, Scotland, actor Sandor Sturbl got down on one knee to propose to his co-star and girlfriend, Lily-Jane Young, who was playing the part of Wendy.

The proposal took Young, still in costume, completely by surprise.

"We were just about to sing our final song of the night when the music stopped. I thought it was a technical hitch and was starting to panic when Sandor turned to the audience," she told The Daily Record.

The rest, as can be seen in the video above, was pure magic. Young gets very emotional during the proposal, and breaks down into heaving sobs.

The two cast members met while touring and have been dating for a little over a year.

No word yet on where the honeymoon will take place, but we have a hunch:

Second star to the right and straight on till morning.

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

In 'Present Perfect,' The Rock Asks Y. And Y Not?

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The artist Alicia Eggert originally tried to employ an old Macbook she already owned in her piece "Present Perfect," "but it kept crashing," she says.

Eggert eventually purchased a more reliable MacBook Air on eBay. A rock sits atop it, pressing the computer's "Y" key. Endlessly. Into a Microsoft Word document.

present perfect

Why, you ask? The computer was chosen for its sleekness; the rock, found outside Eggert's studio in Maine (she's a professor at Bowdoin College) was picked primarily for its size. "It's just the first rock I came across after thinking 'I need a rock," she says. The computer program, meantime, is part of this piece because it's so thoroughly vexing.

"Most people have probably spent hours using Microsoft Word to write things that are supposed to be important, like papers for college or meeting minutes for work, but that we usually couldn't care less about and, in retrospect, were probably a total waste of our time," says Eggert.

The Washington City Paper's art critic Kriston Capps wasn't so impressed with "Present Perfect," which can be seen at Artisphere in Northern Virginia through Feb. 2:

“Present Perfect” is a witty piece, no question, a sculpture that’s ready for the art-fair floor. It’s a work by Alicia Eggert that consists of a MacBook Air, a copy of Microsoft Word, and a rock. The rock is sitting on top of the keyboard, depressing the letter Y, which repeats endlessly, page after scrolling page, a computer’s plaintive yowl. It’s easy to feel confident about “Present Perfect” because this formula has worked before: In 2008, for a piece called “g,” the British artist Jack Strange dropped a lead ball onto the G key of an iBook.


Eggert sees the piece as being deeply personal, though, while also expressing something universal.

"It's like the computer is asking the question 'Why?' over and over again, questioning its own existence, or wondering why that rock fell on it," she says, "like 'Why me?'. I think that's something we can all relate to."

(H/T Ode Street Tribune)

Here Are Mindy Kaling's Dartmouth Comic Strips

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If you pay the slightest bit of attention to pop culture these days, you know Mindy Kaling.

You may know Kaling from own TV show, "The Mindy Project," from her days as a writer and actor on "The Office," or somehow you've only seen her in "The 40 Year Old Virgin."

But you probably don't know Vera Mindy Chokalingam, the 2001 Dartmouth College graduate.

She shortened her last name to Kaling for the stage after graduating from college, according to the New York Times, and has always gone by Mindy for her first name. Kaling joked in her book that she went to Dartmouth to "pursue my love of white people and North Face parkas."

In college, Kaling was a member of the improv comedy troupe the Dog Day Players, a skit writer for the a cappella group The Rockapellas, and had a popular "Badly Drawn Girl" comic strip in the student newspaper, The Dartmouth.

"There were times I was at The D at like 3 a.m., outside in my car while it was snowing and I'd just put my blinkers on and sit there drawing," Kaling told the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine in 2012. "I don't know how I kept up with everything."

Some samples of that comic strip found their way onto Tumblr in the fall of 2013, and were noticed this week by various websites.

Check out a sample of Kaling's comics from her Dartmouth days below, and head over to the Tumblr page to see all the "Badly Drawn Girl" comics that have found their way online.

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mindy kaling comic
mindy kaling comic
mindy kaling comic

Many thanks to The Dartmouth for permission to run these on HuffPost!
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