Quantcast
Channel: Culture & Arts
Viewing all 18483 articles
Browse latest View live

A Beautifully Brief Guide To How Films Became (Techni)Colored

0
0
Judy Garland’s slippers were never meant to be ruby-red. The literary Dorothy wore silver ones in L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, and they would have stayed that way if 1930s Hollywood producers had not wanted to take advantage of a startling new technique that infused intense, full-spectrum colors into film: Technicolor.

Today, it’s taken for granted that movies should capture the color-scale of the world as we perceive it, and only art-house flicks tend to deviate from that norm. But back in the thirties, even big blockbusters had a tenuous relationship with visual reality. The technology-du-jour changed frequently, and plots were shaped to match those technologies. Directors chose between varied coloring processes, and a flick’s most famous prop -- like Dorothy's slippers -- could easily change pigment if need be.

Though Technicolor did not develop its characteristic color scheme until the '30s, the company was founded by Herbert Kalmus in 1915 -- which marks 2015 as its 100-year anniversary. This summer, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibition "Glorious Technicolor" commemorates the occasion with 60 film screenings of the best and most beloved productions from 1922 to 1955.

But what exactly made Technicolor so glorious? Before you head to the retrospective, you might want to know how it earned that title and why it captivated the world.

birthofanation

"The Birth of a Nation" awash in not-so-subtle color


Contrary to popular belief, color films existed long before that dramatic transition scene from black-and-white Kansas to multi-colored Oz.

In fact, it was always possible to add some kind of color to the clips. By 1900 -- just ten years after the first films -- the French company Pathé had developed an arduous method of hand-coloring each frame directly on the tinsey-tiny roll. Instead of capturing color from the world, they added it in after. (A less laborious version of the technique was used in the 1915 classic “The Birth of a Nation.”) Another strategy was to tint entire scenes, drowning them in blue or red to accentuate a certain emotion or tone. Think Instagram filters in motion.

Then, in 1908, engineers at Kinemacolor figured out how to synchronize two different cameras to capture both red and green images on a single roll of film. Mixing those images in different proportions gave a partial spectrum of hues. But they couldn’t fit a third, blue input on the roll -- so there were a lot of sickly-green skies. Today, we assume that when a new technology appears, everyone switches over without missing a beat, but Kinemacolor was cumbersome and produced mediocre results, so greyscale films actually stayed the norm. At first, Technicolor Corporation only refined that two-color method -- but a series of small improvements managed to slowly infiltrate studios through the twenties.

avisittotheseaside

Kinemacolor's "A Visit to the Seaside" featuring stark reds, but washed out seashores


The breakthrough came in 1932 when Technicolor engineers realized they could capture red, green, and blue shots on separate rolls of film -- instead of trying to squeeze them on the same strip.

Equipment for the process was even bulkier and pricier, but the visual results were stunning. Walt Disney took a chance on the new technique that same year with the animated short “Flowers and Trees.” A stupendous commercial success, it took home the Oscar and launched Technicolor to the world.

Film producers were quick to jump on and exploit Technicolor's potential. The technique was particularly well-suited to dreamy worlds, luminous landscapes and musical numbers in need of bright pizzaz. It could come off as garish or gaudy, but that was just fine for the 1952 hit “Singin’ in the Rain.” The makers of 1938's “The Adventures of Robin Hood” chose the method specifically so the intense colors would mimic the palette of Medieval art. Fantastical Disney animations like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” continued to be a natural fit for the form; the psychedelic 1940 classic “Fantasia” could never have existed without it.

flowerandtrees

"Flowers and Trees" stunned with its three-roll color scheme


The rising demand for intense color allowed Technicolor to maintain dictatorial control over the Hollywood scene.

Studios were forced to rent cameras for each production, and an emissary from Technicolor monitored the entire filming process. That emissary was often Natalie Kalmus, Herbert’s wife, who epitomized how color technology altered the content in movies. She argued for more demure tones in many of the films she oversaw, secretly changed the costumes in “Gone with the Wind" and was generally known for her meddling personality.

Beyond studio politics, Technicolor presented new pragmatic challenges to actors familiar with traditional filming methods. Intense lighting was necessary to capture the images, which led set temperatures to rise as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Actress Claudette Colbert was so horrified after shooting one Technicolor production that she declined to act in color for twenty years. Esther Williams had to wear special eye-glasses. But audience demand won out, and full-soaked color films became the industry standard.

singinintherain

"Singin' In the Rain," Courtesy of MoMA


After two decades of unparalleled control over Hollywood, Technicolor fell from grace in the fifties.

Trust-busting government policies struck out at monopolies, and a new company, Eastman Color, developed an efficient way to fit all three colors on a single strip. By 1955, Technicolor had halted camera production, though their unique printing and dye methods kept them in business for several decades beyond what MoMA will showcase this summer. Both the 1971 “Fiddler on the Roof” and 1972's “The Godfather,” for instance, are dyed in Technicolor -- though they are a far cry from the chromatic eye-candy of the '30s. By then, realistic tones had become both technologically possible and the industry norm.

MoMA’s retrospective on Technicolor returns us, then, not just to a visually saturated world, but also to a world that let saturation call the shots. It was a time when actors would faint in blinding light just to catch the blue of an iris, when a engineering company could, both directly and indirectly, dictate the choices made in art.

Today, that all seems odd or outdated, but when you’re swept up in having left Kansas, you tend to make concessions -- and sometimes those concessions lead to an icon: silver slippers died ruby-red forever.

wizardofoz2
The Wicked Witch, it turns out, was not the only one melting. Courtesy of MoMA

-- 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.


Architect Imagines A New Kind Of Emergency Shelter For Climbers In Extreme Conditions

0
0
snow



This article originally appeared on ArchDaily.
by Dario Goodwin

The question “what is the point of all this?” has dogged architecture for as long as anyone cares to look, but since the millennium the purely theoretical yet theoretically possible designs of Margot Krasojevic have taken this question as a challenge. Her latest proposal, a mesh shelter that takes the concept of snow caves and applies it to an artificial structure, is built for an eminently practical purpose: a built emergency shelter for climbers and others caught in extreme conditions. Yet the elaborate, high tech and naturally contoured structure is as much a thought experiment as it is a serious architectural proposal.

Snow caves, igloos and other snow structures all take advantage of the fact that snow is an incredible insulator. Relatively simple to construct and capable of creating a space that can be as warm as 16°C while outside temperatures drop as low as -40°C. Caves dug by hand can be built in a few hours and keep a human alive for several days, while more sturdy structures of packed snow function as seasonal dwellings. Krasojevic’s proposal isn’t exactly an artificial version of these snow caves; it’s more of an artificial snow drift. The carbon fibre mesh acts as a snow-catcher, forming a frame for a large snow drift that can be used to create a snow cave in regions where it may be difficult to find snow deep enough to create a natural snow cave.

snoq

The captured snow works as both building material and insulation, allowing for the creation of a shelter comprising several rooms with air vents, with the further option of digging a well where the coldest air can sit, and insulating the entrance to the shelter with more snow. Inside the artificial snow drift sits a wooden frame suspended from the mesh and attached to the landscape by climbing ropes, which are intended to avoid freezing by swaying. This frame can have canvases attached to it, and contains cell-like modules that would act as sleeping areas.

In addition to this clever use of the natural properties of snow, the mesh surrounding the structure is coated with layers of silicum and green photovoltaic cells, which both generate heat for the inhabitants of the shelter and conduct heat away from the artificial snow drift, cooling the mesh and helping the caught snow freeze in place.

2015-06-10-1433963292-2355343-556f673ee58eceec910002ad_margotkrasojevicturnssnowcavesheltersintopracticalimpossibleart_plan_sequence327x1000.jpg


On paper, Krasojevic’s focus on the material she uses, how they function to create a habitable space and how to construct this shelter – she proposes building it into a slope with an excavated entrance tunnel – create an idea of a utilitarian structure built strictly out of need, but like many of her projects (such as a Floating Hydroelectric Waterfall Prison, or a Suspended Campsite for Climbers, besides many, many others) this snow shelter is intentionally and playfully incredible in the sense that it’s not, really, credible. Krasojevic focuses on the ways these structures could be built in the full knowledge they never would be. That said, they don’t seem like utopian visions as many of the most outlandish proposals of modernism were; they don’t seem to have any “higher purpose” than the very practical things they’re said to do.

Instead, they seem like Margot Krasojevic’s reply to the question of “what is the point of all this?”: an expression of some form of “pure architecture” that is unencumbered by economics, social theory or urban planning.







-- 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.

Through Your Lens: Vietnam's Dramatic Landscapes

0
0
The WorldPost's "Through Your Lens" series brings you stunning photos taken by social media users in a different country around the world every week. This week, we explore the striking geography and local cultures of Vietnam.

From the solitary beaches of Ha Long Bay to the chaotic streets of Ho Chi Minh City, travelers to Vietnam (with a bit of patience) will be rewarded by the country's dramatic landscapes and rich cultural heritage.

Check out some of the beautiful images taken in the country below, and tag your Twitter and Instagram photos from around the world with #WorldPostGram so we can feature them in our next post.

Check out the WorldPost on Instagram for more vibrant photography from across the globe.

The Sung Sot Cave aka the "Amazing Cave" in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

A photo posted by b®enda alexander-quach (@brendalexander) on







Halong bay, Vietnam 2013

A photo posted by @bradwilletts on







A solitary temple on a beach surrounded by huge limestone formations out in Halong Bay.

A photo posted by Spencer Elzey (@spencerlz) on







Mister Traveler @vanderploatsen || Phố Trịnh Hoài Đức Barber || Hanoi, Vietnam || #mistertraveler

A photo posted by #mistertraveler (@mister.traveler) on










A lady having a smoke by the waterside in the beautiful picturesque city of Hội An in Vietnam.

A photo posted by Nick C (@midvale99) on




Hoi an, Vietnam 2014 This woman sold flowers to float on the river.

A photo posted by @bradwilletts on







Playing a tourist on New Years Day in this beautiful city // Thank you @grierface for letting me use your phone ☺️

A photo posted by Charl tte (@charlottemaryrose) on













A water buffalo in a field just outside of Hoi An, Vietnam. #latergram #vietnam

A photo posted by Nicole S. Young (@nicolesy) on





-- 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.

After Years Of Isolation In A Tiny New York Apartment, The Film-Obsessed 'Wolfpack' Is Venturing Out

0
0
the wolfpack sundance





For the Angulo family, "The Godfather" is everything. So are "Lord of the Rings," "The Dark Knight" and "Pulp Fiction." These movies mean so much, in fact, that the six brothers know every word by heart. They've fashioned Legolas' bows and arrows from scratch, used yoga mats to create the Batsuit and celebrated Quentin Tarantino's birthday. But until recently, they'd never sat in a movie theater. In fact, they'd hardly stepped outside of their apartment.

The brothers grew up in a cramped housing project on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where their devout Hare Krishna father, Oscar, confined them at all times, citing a fear of violence and drugs. He wanted 10 children, all of whom would grow their hair long and function as a tribe. Oscar and his wife, Suzanne, only made it to seven (including one sister, Visnu, who has a developmental syndrome), but he held on to the apartment's only key anyway. When their mother wasn't homeschooling them, the brothers watched movies. Lots and lots of movies. And when they weren't watching movies, they were bringing the Battle of Helm's Deep to life in their bedroom or crafting handmade Michael Myers masks.

The siblings were permitted to leave a handful of times each year, if lucky. But one of the first times they broke free and began exploring on their own, back in 2010, the sextet -- Bhagavan, now 23; twins Govinda and Narayana, 22; Mukunda, 20; Krisna, 18; and Jagadesh, 16 -- was standing at an intersection when Crystal Moselle approached them. Curious about this unusual clan of long-haired young men, the director struck up a conversation. When the brothers said they were aspiring filmmakers, a relationship blossomed.

The results of that fateful encounter will be realized on Friday when "The Wolfpack" opens. Moselle spent five years peeking in on the Angulo family, visiting their small apartment to make a documentary about these young men who used popular culture as a means of coping with isolation. Sometimes somber and sometimes brimming with hope, "The Wolfpack" feels as raw as the experience it depicts. It won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and the Angulo brothers were on hand in Park City, Utah, to celebrate its victory. They also walked the red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival, where "The Wolfpack" screened in April. The Angulos can do things like that now, because four of them are no longer minors and none of them are settling for prolonged solitude.

the wolfpack

"When I first saw it, for me I would say it was very powerful and very emotional," Bhagavan said of the film. "Walking away with it, I guess I would say I probably did go with the idea that it’s going to be pretty awesome sharing it with the world. I had absolutely no idea of how that was going to happen, but I knew that it was."

The Angulos were chipper when The Huffington Post sat down with the four eldest brothers, their mother and Moselle last month. Their names are Sanskrit, because Oscar, a Peruvian immigrant, wanted to give them identifiers from one of the world's oldest languages. During our conversation, each brother repeated his name before speaking so as to avoid confusion, and if one forgot, Narayana, who seemed protective of his siblings, gently reminded him.

Many 20-somethings spend their post-adolescence figuring out how to make life decisions for themselves, but this well-read group seems to have skipped that phase. Perhaps it's because they aren't jaded by the social pressures that define one's school days, or maybe it's because the movies they consumed while in captivity gave them a limitless idea of the surroundings they were denied. Whatever it is, the Angulo brothers are going places.

But first, they endured the prying lens of a documentary camera, which brought a rare intruder into their claustrophobic world. As it turns out, they didn't mind performing for an audience other than their parents. Moselle would arrive at random intervals, usually alone, and implant herself in a corner to capture the Angulos' doings. In between Suzanne's daily homeschooling (which doubled as the family's chief source of income) and joint dinner preparations, Moselle documented the brothers' favorite pastime: reenactments of the movies they loved.

They watched their favorite films so many times that they came to know the dialogue by heart. Still, they would transcribe and rehearse every word. "Lord of the Rings" was their first group production -- they once performed all nine hours of Peter Jackson's trilogy in a single span. The Angulos typically treated their remakes like plays, never stopping to correct mistakes. With Moselle's cameras in tow, however, they had to be mindful of who was in the shot and whether everyone was meeting their cues -- and they enjoyed performing even more as a result. All of a sudden, the Angulo brothers were actual movie stars.

"Since they were very young, they’ve always been filming each other," Suzanne said. "Maybe they’re building something with Lego toys or they’re playing pirates or knights or warriors and jumping from bed to bed. Whatever they were doing, they would always film, and many times when we wanted something filmed we would give the camera to them and say, 'Just do what you want.' That’s what a lot of our home movies are."



When they weren't re-creating cinema, they were digging into its annals. But instead of growing up on Disney classics, their earliest memories come from genre fare: Arnold Schwarzenegger titles ("Last Action Hero" was the first movie they saw, around 6 and 7 years old), the early "Batman" flicks, and horror staples like "The Exorcist" and the "Halloween" franchise. Oh, and "Jesus Christ Superstar," because why not? The Angulos had cable, so Oscar would purchase blank VHS tapes on which the brothers recorded movies. Otherwise, Oscar would obtain DVDs from the library or at discounted prices. For the Angulos' favorites, like "Lord of the Rings" and "Reservoir Dogs," they would spend weeks constructing intricate props. An entire world, usually transmitted to harried folks who devote a few hours here and there to a dark theater, existed inside their world-deprived home.

Yet, imagine adoring film all of your life but never actually setting foot inside a movie theater. That's finally changed now that the four adult brothers have left home -- three of them live together, while Govinda is on his own -- and they can tick off a list of hits they've enjoyed since experiencing the multiplexes that most take for granted. (Said list includes "Interstellar," "The Tree of Life," "Nightcrawler," "Django Unchained," "The Fighter" and "12 Years a Slave.")

"Our relationship with movies always evolved," Narayana said. "We grew up with action and horror and fun, entertaining kind of movies, but when I saw 'The Godfather' for the first time, it completely changed my life. Then when you start getting more into the classics, like Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese movies, and when we started going out more, we just pursued more and more movies, and one of the biggest changes was we got more into foreign cinema, so we started exploring Kurosawa, Truffaut, Fellini, Chantal Akerman and countless others. The biggest thing that we learned is there are absolutely no rules in cinema. Because we got into David Lynch later and we were were like, 'This guy’s movies aren’t like anything else. What is this?' There’s this entire unlimited world in cinema, and that’s why it’s always so exciting and that’s why we're passionate about it, because there’s always more and more to discover."

Now they're left to discover technology -- a key blind spot -- and careers, the inevitable next stage for their fresh independence. Moselle said she's helping them to establish a production company, which they'll call Wolfpack Pictures. In the meantime, Govinda is an aspiring cinematographer who finds steady PA work. (In fact, Moselle handed off the camera to both him and Narayana to shoot various scenes for "The Wolfpack." Govinda would love to pursue documentaries, but he said they "can't afford" him.) When asked about his professional ambitions, Narayana channeled Ray Liotta's voice-over in "Goodfellas": "As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a filmmaker. To me, being a filmmaker was better than being president of the United States. Ever since I would watch those old movies when I was little, I knew I wanted to be a part of that." Mukunda, the group's resident prop master, works at a media production company and aims to direct one day. Bhagavan teaches yoga in Jersey City and hopes to become an artistic director at a hip-hop dance conservatory. The two younger brothers are nearing the end of their high-school equivalency and will soon decide whether to set out alongside their older siblings.

Oscar, on the other hand, has not broadened his horizons. The brothers said he has seen "The Wolfpack," and while it opened his mind to the "big picture" of their situation, it didn't ignite any revelations. "Some people never think or will admit that they’re wrong," Narayana said.

Still, the Angulo wolf pack blazes on, and pop culture will forever remain their haven.

"What I think that is important for people to take away from the film is to get a sense of the love that is shared in the family and how much everyone in our family really cares about each other, and also to have a sense of inspiration and hope that everything is always changing and that nothing really stays the same," Suzanne said. "Even when it seems very dark or very boring or very non-adventurous, it always changes and it always evolves into something else, which then evolves into something else."

"The Wolfpack" opens in limited release on June 12. It will expand to additional cities throughout June and July. Don't miss 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.

The Bottom Line: Vendela Vida's 'The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty'

0
0


diver

The world of Vendela Vida’s latest novel, The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty, revolves, like a swirling washing machine working hard to renew and restore, around outfits. Its protagonist, a woman who loses her belongings, her way, and her identity on a seemingly unplanned trip to Morocco, is often found observing what other people are wearing, and making judgments based on their clothes. Her critical eye turns on herself, too –- she notices, for example, that men are more respectful towards her when she puts on a pleated skirt.

The story’s nameless protagonist arrives in Casablanca already feeling disappointed; the hotel she’s chosen, The Golden Tulip, is less than glamorous, and her guidebook, which she’s only just cracked open, advises visitors to venture outside of the traffic-polluted city and on to Fes and Marrakech hastily. While standing at the checkout desk considering how to make the most of the three days she has planned there, her nondescript black backpack, which contains her passport and credit cards, is stolen.

The events that unfold are increasingly absurd and Kafkaesque, but Vida makes it clear that the mishaps, including the appropriation of another tourist’s passport, an after-show run-in with Patti Smith, and a budding relationship with a famous American actress as unlikely as it is tumultuous, are the result of the narrator’s shaky state of mind rather than a mere streak of bad luck.

As the novel’s title implies, she’s a vessel for her surroundings, and lacks the agency to alter her situation. When she catches a glimpse of herself in the hotel mirror, she’s grown thinner from stress. A ravenous appetite materializes as a result; she orders and devours an omelet from room service. Her actions throughout continue to spring from the feelings elicited by the shallow appearance of things, making for an enlightening meditation on loss and individualism.

But Vida’s story is more than a nihilistic acknowledgement that identities are constructed. Her narrator, we learn, is going through a divorce, and is coping with the estrangement of her sister, for whom she’s recently been a surrogate. These tragic events, hardly acknowledged by the narrator, grace the story with a depth reminiscent of Sheila Heti’s “All Our Happy Days Are Stupid,” a play about hesitant housewives who flee their families on a vacation in Paris, or Deborah Levy’s short story collection Black Vodka, which imbues her rich tales of identity with absurd humor.

Aside from a few forced metaphors –- the narrator befriends a bodyguard while bonding over Darwin and the necessity of evolution under life-threatening circumstances –- Vida’s scenes are gemlike, which makes sense considering the author’s experience as a film writer. The spare story is narrated in the second person, and immerses the reader in the wobbly, dizzying feelings of loss the narrator herself experiences while away from home.

The Bottom Line:
In an extended metaphor for the anguish felt when identity is lost -- an unfortunately common experience for women finding their way -- Vida manages to also craft a riveting read about the ups, downs, and self-discovery of travel.

Who wrote it?:
Vendela Vida is the founding editor of The Believer, and the author of four books, one which was developed into a script.

Who will read it?:
Those interested in feminist literature, funny stories, and spare plots that'll make your heart race.

Opening lines:
"When you find your seat you glance at the businessman sitting next to you and decide he's almost handsome."

Notable passage:
"You swim twenty more laps without stopping. You relish your turns, the way you glide as you push off from the edges of the pool. You've always gained speed on your turns; they've long been your secret asset as a swimmer. You can feel your mind being cleared. Water does this to you."

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty
by Vendela Vida
Ecco, $25.99
Published June 2, 2015

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.

Pearl Of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Recreates Iconic Portraits With Wilhelmina Artists

0
0
Pearl may not have won the seventh season of "RuPaul's Drag Race," but that doesn't mean the star isn't on top.

Shortly after RuPaul crowned Violet Chachki "America's Next Drag Superstar," Artists at Wilhelmina Image Board NYC released this series of portraits that different artists at the agency worked together to recreate. Through "The Transformation of Pearl," viewers can see nods and references to some of Hollywood's most iconic women and images transformed by one of the most beautiful queens to ever walk the runway of "Drag Race."

Check a few of the images out below or head here to see the spread in full.

Portrait of a Lady
pearlportrait

Pearl Munroe
pearlmunroe

Pearlarella
pearlarella

Sunday in the Park
sundayinthepark

Sprouse Pearl
gypsypearl

Roller Pearl
rollerpearl

Boys Love Blondie
boysloveblondie

Come Fly With Pearl
comeflywithpearl

Pearl-ah Fawcett
pearlah fawcett

The Lady Wears Red
the lady wears red

Pearl: Girl of the Year
girl of the year

Dark Lady
dark lady

-- 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.

6 Fun, Little Stories About The NBA, According To The League's Most Legendary Photographer

0
0
NBA fans might not know Andrew Bernstein’s name, but they almost certainly know his work. The longest tenured photographer in the NBA, Bernstein is responsible for a staggering number of the most iconic photos in basketball history.

For the past three-plus decades, Bernstein has been everywhere. He was in Barcelona with the 1992 Dream Team. He with the U.S. Olympic basketball team in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012. He has covered over 30 NBA finals and 30 All-Star games through the years. He has photographed Magic and Bird, Kobe and Shaq, LeBron and Wade. He was there when Jordan leaped from the free throw line during the 1988 dunk content. He was there when Jordan cried while holding his first championship trophy, his father by his side.

Today, he’s the director of photography at the Staples Center, and the official photographer for both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers (as well as the Los Angeles Kings). Over an extended conversation with The Huffington Post, Bernstein shared some of his favorite anecdotes from his time covering the league and talked about the people he met along the way.

The 2009 Lakers had to trick Phil Jackson into celebrating in the locker room.

“Phil is actually a pretty shy guy,” Bernstein told HuffPost. “It sounds weird, but it’s true, and many times he has to be coerced into the locker room to celebrate with the guys.”

“I remember specifically when he won his 10th championship [with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009], and we were in Orlando and he was just happy to be in the coaches locker room with his kids and his coaches, and the guys wanted him in their locker room whooping it up.”

“Somehow they forced him out of there. I think Kobe told him that he wanted him in there to do the Lord's Prayer, which they do after every game, win or lose. I was standing right there, and he went in reluctantly and the second he got in, they nailed him with champagne.”

88488873
Phil Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate their 2009 championship. (Credit: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE)


Kobe Bryant’s obsessive knowledge of the NBA was obvious on day one. Literally.

“Media day is sort of a crazy factory of photo sessions and interviews and promos and headshots,” Bernstein said, before launching into a story about the first time he met Kobe the rookie at his first media day.

“So i have a couple stations set up to do headshots and portraits, and [Kobe] makes his way over to me, and I go to introduce myself, and say ‘Kobe, I’m Andy. I’m the Lakers’ NBA photographer.” And he’s shaking my hand and he says ‘Oh, so you’re Andy Bernstein?’ And I say, ‘Yeah ...’ and he says, ‘I had all your posters hanging in my room growing up.’ And I’m like, ‘Really?’”

“Here is a kid with the presence of mind in this crazy media situation to recognize ...” he said as he trailed off, “Who reads the photo credit on a poster? It just tells me what kind of guy this is.”

Kobe asked Andrew for photos of NBA legends for motivation while out with injuries.

“He has a habit of asking for photos of his muses ... of Magic and Jordan and Bird and guys [in which] he always admired something about their game, that he’s taken from each of those guys and applied to himself,” he said.

“I am kind of continually giving him pictures of those guys from back in the day,” he added. “I think it was more helpful to him while he was sort of recovering and rehabbing from his injuries to keep his motivation level going.”

89977396
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, two of Kobe Bryant's idols. (Credit: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE)


The famously competitive Dream Team practices weren’t actually as antagonistic as you might have thought.

“If you could imagine any two guys at any level, you know, [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi, or [Sugar Ray] Leonard and [Thomas] Hearns -- take that times ten and that was what the competition was with the Dream Team guys,” he said. “They weren’t getting any actual competition in the actual Olympics ... so the practice was really the place to say what these guys were made of.”

“Magic was one captain and Jordan was the other captain ... There was so much competitive energy in the gym, but nothing really negative. You just could have taken those guys out to the playground in any city and they would have been happy, because it was back to their roots. Back to what got them playing as kids.”

And some friendships, like that between Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing, were born there.

“Bird and Patrick Ewing became great friends during the whole Olympic experience, and they were buddies and they loved hanging out together joking, practical jokes and all that stuff,” Bernstein said.

133306306
Patrick Ewing and Larry Bird, just hanging out. (Credit: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE)


One of the most famous photos in NBA history was an accident.

“I’d have to pick Jordan hugging the trophy -- his first championship trophy in ‘91 in the locker room with his dad next to him,” Bernstein said when asked which of his photos was his favorite.

“Photographically how it all came together was a miracle,” he said. “I wasn't even aware where Michael was [at the time] and then just happened to turn to my left and there he was just in the locker crying with the trophy when he was supposed to be on live TV.”

jordan dad
Michael Jordan holds the championship trophy with his late father by his side. (Credit: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE)

-- 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.

U.K. Petition Calls For A Ban On Baby Ear Piercing

0
0
An online petition to ban baby ear piercing is taking off in the U.K.

The petition, which addresses U.K. Minister of State for Children and Families Edward Timpson, calls for a minimum legal age requirement for ear piercing.

"It is a form of child cruelty," writes the petition creator Susan Ingram. "Severe pain and fear is inflicted upon infants unnecessarily. It serves no purpose other than to satisfy the parent's vanity. Other forms of physically harming children are illegal -- this should be no different."

The petition has received over 35,000 signatures in only a week, prompting Labour Party Member of Parliament Mark Tami to declare his intention to raise the issue in the House of Commons.

“If we allowed parents to do other things to their children’s faces, like tattooing, that would be appalling, but although piercings can heal, they can still cause distorting affects on the ear, in the skin and muscle,” Tami told The Guardian. “The question is, what age is appropriate? Certainly a baby or a child has no opportunity of consenting to having the procedure done.”

Many people expressed similar sentiments in the petition's comment section. "Stop parents inflicting unnecessary pain on a child," wrote user Catherine H. "[S]macking a child is abuse, so how come sticking metal rods through their ears is not abuse??!!" asked Claire M.

Others, however, have called the campaign "utterly pointless" and "a waste of web space and time."

"I suppose a lot of parents also don't like the idea of piercings, which is perhaps why they supported this campaign – that's fine, apply it to your own children, but the fact remains that it isn't a serious issue," commenter Dana C. wrote. "And it's also not solely for cosmetic purposes – it can be a cultural tradition, too, as was the reason for me getting them."

The cultural aspect of child ear piercing has been the subject of debate in the past. A 2012 New York Times op-ed compared the practice to circumcision in Latino communities. Many Indian families have their daughters' ears pierced at very young age as well.

Metro pointed out that the U.K. reality show "Blinging Up Baby" may be partly responsible for the recent outpouring of strong opinions about this issue. The program stirred up controversy after a mom pierced her 4-month-old baby's ears in an episode earlier this month.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics' website HealthyChildren.org, "If the piercing is performed carefully and cared for conscientiously, there is little risk, no matter what the age of the child." However, the organization cautions, "As a general guideline, postpone the piercing until your child is mature enough to take care of the pierced site herself."

In the U.S., there are no federal mandates about ear piercing, but certain states have laws requiring the parents' consent for anyone under 18. There are no legal minimum age requirements.

This U.K. petition could lead to a legal precedent, but as the mixed opinions online demonstrate, there's no clear consensus.

H/T BuzzFeed



Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter |
Contact HuffPost Parents

-- 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.


Disney's 'Zootopia' Is A World Where 'Humans Never Happened'

0
0
They say hell is other people. Well, Disney has the answer to that -- a world with no people at all.

The first trailer for "Zootopia," the next animated film for the studio, explains "humans never happened," which makes Zootopia a "modern, civilized world that is entirely animal."

Of course, since the animals are anthropomorphic (like the majority of animated animals), they pretty much have all the same problems of the human world, give or take a few.

The film stars Ginnifer Goodwin as the voice of rookie rabbit cop Judy Hopps, and Jason Bateman as the voice of Nick Wilde, a fast-talking scam-artist fox, who join forces to solve a mystery.

"Zootopia" hits theaters March 4, 2016.

-- 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.

Intimate Portraits Document The Lives Of Europe's Invisible Workers

0
0


Some leave home just for the season, others travel from city to city in search of steady work and send money home to their families. They are seasonal migrant workers, men and women who leave home in search of better economic conditions and go wherever there’s work. While the rest of Europe is on vacation, this army of “new migrants” toils through the summer months.

Working Far Away is a project by Mexican photographer Irving Villegas, who has documented the lives of these invisible workers, ranging from asparagus pickers in Germany to the families of Romanian migrants, Polish sheep shearers and Spanish domestic workers at the height of the financial crisis.

The work of the Hannover, Germany-based photographer tells the stories of people living at the edge of precarity --their long voyages, their grueling work, their solitude and daily lives. “My intention is to document both the conditions under which migrant laborers work and how they live their lives. I want to show what these people go through, and the need that drives them to leave their countries in search of a better life for themselves and the families who wait for them at home,” Villegas explains.

Seasonal work migration is nothing new, workers have long travelled to Europe from around the world to harvest olives, melons, and oranges. But according to Villega, today, at the height of Europe’s economic crisis, the situation is different. He says seasonal workers often spend days and weeks looking for jobs, and the work they do find is often under the table.

Compounding this experience is the difficulty of leaving one’s own country for long periods. “It hurts to have our family far away those three months,” writes one of the workers depicted in Working Far Away, who travels to Spain’s Galicia region each year for the sheep-shearing season. “But now with the Internet and cell phones it became easier to be in contact. Twenty years ago, we could only make one phone call every two weeks from a public phone,” he adds. The shearing season, he says, “is one of our main sources of income to live in Poland. In our country we can only get occasional work, there is no permanent or well paid job.”

Irving Villegas's work is on display until June 11 at the Festival PhotoOn in Valencia, Spain.



This article was originally published in HuffPost Italy and was adapted for an American audience.

-- 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.

22 Sunset Wedding Photos That Prove Mother Nature Is The Best Backdrop

0
0
There's something impossibly romantic about a sunset -- the warm light, the colorful sky, maybe a gentle breeze.

And watching the sun set on your wedding day, taking in the beauty with your new husband or wife? Pure magic. Below are 22 sunset wedding photos that couldn't be more picturesque.



Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Sign up for our 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.

This Poet's Powerful Explanation Of 'Black Privilege' Will Give You Chills

0
0
“Black privilege is a myth, is a joke, is a punchline, is a time a teacher asks a little boy what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said alive.”

This is just one of the chilling and painfully honest statements poet Crystal Valentine delivered at the finals of the 2015 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational in April.

In a video published to YouTube last week, Valentine -- a talented performer, activist and student at New York University -- powerfully expressed the raw emotions and experiences of what she feels being black in America means today through a poem titled “Black Privilege.”

“Black privilege is me having already memorized my nephew’s eulogy, my brother’s eulogy, my father’s eulogy, my unconceived child’s eulogy,” she recited. “Black privilege is me thinking my sister’s name is safe from that list.”

Valentine is one of six performing poets who represented NYU at the poetry slam. The team ultimately won the competition -- meanwhile, Valentine won our hearts and she’ll win yours, too.



-- 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.

Sacred Statues Destroyed By The Taliban Return As Ghostly Projections

0
0
A pair of sacred statues that the Taliban destroyed in Afghanistan have been recreated by enormous 3-D light projections.

The Sunni Muslim Taliban forces blew up the Buddha statues in March 2001 as an act of religious terror. Leader Mullah Omar declared that they were false idols and forced local workers to blow them up. The statues were carved into cliffs in Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, a World Heritage Site, about 1,500 years ago, and have lay in rubble for more than a decade.

Chinese documentarians Janson Yu and Liyan Hu created huge projections of the statues over the weekend, according to The Atlantic. They journeyed to the Bamiyan Valley after UNESCO and the Afghan government gave them permission to debut their work.

476426216
This photo taken on June 7, 2015, shows the projected image of a Buddha statue in the Bamiyan Valley.


The ghostly 3-D light projections filled the immense cutouts in the mountains where the original stone statues once stood. Over 150 people watched the spectacle, The Atlantic reported.

There was an international outcry after the Buddha statues were demolished, but UNESCO, archaeologists and the Afghan government haven't been able to agree on whether the statues should be restored.

-- 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.

Lonnie Holley Is The Most Genuine Performance Artist In The Mother Universe

0
0
loon



"I'm gonna get your garbage, your trash, your debris," Lonnie Holley says before a crowd gathered to hear him perform at the American Folk Art Museum as part of the ongoing exhibition "When the Curtain Never Comes Down."

He is magnetic, in every sense of the word, from the wild glimmer in his eye to the enchanting rhythm of his voice, which strings ordinary words into incalculable sermons, sounding like the daily prayers of another planet. Yet the word "magnetic" seems most apt when describing Holley's physical appearance; his entire person is swarmed with tchotchkes --- six rings per finger, 12 bracelets per arm, and more pins, beads and thingamajigs than one could count, piled on to such an extreme the best explanation would be one of gravitational pull.

Of course, the many baubles clinging to Holley's person are just one facet of his performance art, a multidisciplinary mission that aims, above all, to turn your garbage into his art. "I wear the jewelry to show that, if you put your brain to it, it can be done," Holley explained to The Huffington Post in an interview prior to the performance. "I find something that I like and I rework it." This idea is the core of Holley's artistic practice, a complex constellation that encapsulates both his sculptures and his music.

There is a wizardlike quality to Holley's demeanor; one gets the feeling that every conversation with him allows access into his freely flowing consciousness of weird yet profound wisdom, occasionally interrupted by warm and humble humor. "I take a bath and I wash with [my accessories] and everything," he says, fingering his metal-encrusted thumb. "But I had to take everything off before I got on the airplane here."

lonnie holley

Lonnie Holley was born in 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of 27 children. Almost immediately, his life was plagued with trauma. "You can imagine if a woman had three children that needed her titty, then it would be all right for another woman to take one away and feed from her breasts instead," he explained in an interview with The Fader. According to the artist, a woman offered to watch the infant Holley overnight, never gave him back, and instead traded him to another family for a pint of whiskey.

He grew up hungry. School was hell. At 7 years old, he tried to run away, was hit by a car and pronounced brain dead. One of his happier memories was growing up next to a state fairground and a drive-in movie theater. "To get to the state fair I used to have to crawl through a sewer pipe," Holley explains. "I did this song called 'I Stole This Knowledge' because I had to sneak through this sewage pipe to get onto the fair property and once I was there I could see everything that was getting a blue ribbon. I could see everything that was getting first prize, second prize, third prize. I was looking at the greatest products of humanity."

Similarly, at the drive-in theater, Holley snuck his way in, smuggling for himself an infinite buffet of morphing sights and sounds. Also, popcorn. "I picked up all the popcorn, all the candy, everything that was stepped over, and I got a chance to eat it. I was able to see all the movies that I wanted. I had to steal an education. I was crawling through sewer pipes to get into these places for free, stealing my way in, but I was getting an experience no other child would have. Up and down the ditches, I dug up worms, I turned over the old broken glass, I turned over the broken stone, I turned over the stuff that was supposed to have been flushed out of the city."

This was Holley's primary source of education: the cinematic sounds and the sewage pipes and the flickering scraps of junk left inside them. "I didn't have a chance to go to school that much," Holley says. "I didn't get any further than the seventh grade in school. My education has mostly been materials that I've been involved with. I've learned from these materials. I learned how a metal piece of wire and a copper piece of wire and a steel piece of wire are all different. When you have a stainless steel piece of wire, it's stronger, it's not going to erode. Whereas if you have a metal piece of wire and water hits it it begins to rust. Copper doesn't rust, it has a coding that covers it up."

lonnie holley art

As a young teen, Holley served time at a barbaric juvenile facility called the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, where he endured cruel beatings and solitary confinement. It was during this time that, according to Holley, he began expressing his emotions on the inside, and, having no one to externally express them to, began transforming them into the seeds of art.

Holley became a father at 15 years old; he now has 15 children. And, at 29, he became an artist.

At first, Holley had no idea he was creating art. He started in 1979, after his sister Bonnie Holley lost two children, a baby girl and a young boy, when their house burned down. Riddled with pain, Holley found some sandstone and a crosscut saw and built two gravestones, his first sculptures. "I didn’t know it was art. I thought I was making baby tombstones."

When addressing the crowd at the American Folk Art Museum, Holley occasionally alludes to the tragedy, out of context, like a tic, almost as if subconsciously warning the audience of his sister's fate. "You got all this stuff plugged in and you never check the fuse box," he said. "These overloaded sockets will set a place on fire."

lonnie holley

Within a year of the tragedy, Holley had created approximately 100 works of art, made from phonograph records, melted television sets, copy machines, plastic flowers, baseball bats, animal bones, clothespins and other discarded gems. "I really like old stuff that is deteriorating," he explains. "The more it's deteriorating the more it has to teach us, because the closer it is to nature itself."

He points to one sculpture entitled "Joy or Power," in which shriveling power cords dangle in a knotted mess, their silvery insides spewing out. "It's all about: do we know what kind of joy power can bring? You can see the erosion on the copper. I wanted to show that just because you have the ability to use the power, let's not abuse the power to the point that your cords and everything get to a point where they can burn you out."

Just a few years after he began making art, Holley's work was acquired by curators at the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. Yet, as communicated by Valerie Rousseau, curator of "When the Curtain Never Comes Down," Holley's art objects are only the jumping-off point of his artistic practice. "It's difficult for me to see his objects as independent pieces," Rousseau explained to HuffPost.

"I feel like they are all components of this environment, and environments are lifelong projects. They are not object-oriented. It's a whole system and often involves other practices. For Holley, it's the storytelling, the music. It's like a laboratory. It's evident when you are experiencing performance art that it's not object-oriented, it's the body is carrying the message, and that message is not seen, but experienced."

lonnie holley art

The music Rousseau refers to got its start in 2012, when, at the ripe age of 62, Holley began his career as a recording artist. Under the record label Dust-to-Digital, Holley released two albums, "Just Before Music" and "Keeping a Record of It." They're the aural equivalent of Holley's sculptures -- gruff, doddering, haunting, otherworldly, haphazard and yet seemingly cosmically ordained.

The songs are of a breed all their own, containing no chorus or melody, reusing and remixing ideas, chords and refrains as if they're old, dumped objects found on the road. Each performance is a balance of repetition and improvisation. "Once I record it, I'm not gonna burden my brain with remembering exactly that," he says. "I'm already thinking about the next thing."

lonnie holley

Over the past three years, Holley has collaborated with bands including Deerhunter, Animal Collective and the Dirty Projectors. During his performance at the Folk Art Museum, he's joined by vocalist Lizzi Bougatsos of Gang Gang Dance and I.U.D., for a wobbly and odd duet that the two weave together out of thin air. "My music and my art, I see them as Siamese twins," Holley says. "Because they're both coming from my brain." Holley's songs pick up where his sculptures leave off, revisiting themes of creation, survival and knowledge with the same unearthly conviction, as if possessed by his own memories.

Having a conversation with Holley isn't all that different an experience. Sometimes answers turn into stories which veer into sermons and verge on songs. "He is an excellent storyteller," Rousseau explains. "He is always able to tell a story. But his work is related to something that is larger, something more cultural or universal. It's an extended time frame that is related to something greater than the sound."

"People will take out their cell phones and watch a group of people get in a fight and laugh about it," Holley says, in the middle of a discussion about iPhone photos. "Everyone thinks they're a director and they're not. My whole thing is: are you directing or are you causing death? Which is still, like, a die. All the people play dead. Somebody gotta pay that ambulance bill. Somebody gotta pay when somebody is so afraid when grandmothers and grandfathers get too afraid to even get out of their homes anymore. Somebody have to pay. One way or another you've got to pay that bill."

Holley's anxiety regarding the impending dangers of technology is glaring, and makes repeated appearances in his artwork, music and dialogue. "Technology is gonna take control of everything," he explains to the museum crowd. "Art is actually just dictionaries and encyclopedias for the survival of the future." Words tumble out like shiny nonsense; it's only upon further reflection that they begin to assemble into something meaningful, valuable, rare.

lon
Illustration by Priscilla Frank


At 65 years old, Holley has had the opportunity to watch his artistic prestige blossom before his eyes. "To look at your work moving from one level to the international level and for me to still be alive ..." Holley pauses, clearly overwhelmed. "A lot of the artists that are in this particular exhibition with me are dead."

This particular exhibition is "When the Curtain Never Comes Down," an exceptional display of lifelong art performers, not to be confused with the genre of performance artists. For such artists, their lives constitute one continuous artwork, communicated in every word, every outfit, every gesture. "They play and dress their lives, fully immersed in their stories," writes Rousseau in the exhibition catalogue. "These stories define an alter ego, or a second skin, which can be conceived as a transitional object."

"Let's show some respect for life," Holley tells his enraptured audience before beginning his first song. "Let's show everyone how we throw out the trash. All of us use the brain, all the way to Mother Universe. Thumbs up to Mother Universe." For Holley, this expression is the equivalent of a handshake, and is repeated at the start and end of most conversations. He explains the reasoning behind the phrase: "You got two thumbs up. That's one thing. Then we got eight fingers, eight fingers!, wrapped around each other and bringing us together." He clasps his hands together, holding the universe within them.

From the rings on his fingers to the words in his mouth, Lonnie Holley is always at work on the art that is Lonnie Holley. He's a scavenger and a shaman, a performer, a storyteller and a genuine spirit. To encounter him, in person or through his work, is to experience a survival story of the most extraordinary degree. Despite the relentless barrage of tragedy Holley faced throughout his life, he salvaged his very being like a discarded object left in a sewage pipe, and turned it into something wildly beautiful.

Holley's work is currently on view as part of "When the Curtain Never Comes Down," which runs until July 5, 2015, at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. See a preview of the exhibition below.









-- 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.

Intimate Photos Of Brigitte Bardot Are So Stunning It Hurts

0
0
brig




The following photos were all taken in a single weekend, when photojournalist Ray Bellisario, often referred to as the "original London paparazzo" encountered Brigitte Bardot in 1968, and convinced her to spend the night with him.

"I said, 'Come with me,' and she did!" the photographer recounted in an interview with Johnny Kerry, discussing the legendary evening. "And she said, 'Oh, this is fun, I’ve been kidnapped!'" The two then snuck away from the troupe of security guards watching over the French film starlet, headed to a pub for a drink, and spent the evening at Bellisario's hotel. Not too surprisingly, Bellisario photographed the entire "petite affair," as he called it.

br

The never-before-seen photos capture the undeniable magnetism of the siren, with her signature blonde bangs, cat-winged eyeliner and black bow. The intimate series reveals the moments of flirtation between the unlikely duo, however fleeting. According to Bellisario, after Bardot kissed him goodbye the following morning, he never saw her again.

"I thought, well, there was nothing in it, no substance to it," the photographer said. "That’s probably the way she is with guys, that’s what I thought at the time. She was such an attraction, a sexual attraction, that it could happen each and every night for her, and that’s really what it boiled down to. I thought it’s Ray today and someone else tomorrow, all that business, you know."

bb

Aside from photographing Bardot, Bellisario is most well-known for his clandestine photos of the Queen of England in her bathing clothes. In fact, he took more than a few candids of celebrities and royal family members alike. Despite the wrath he encountered in return, Bellisario maintained his legitimacy as a photojournalist. "I was a schemer, a planner, an opportunist. I was many things, but I wasn’t daring enough to do very stupid things that the so-called paparazzi still do today, on the backs of motorbikes and all that sort of thing."

Whether or not you'd qualify Bellisario as an authentic photojournalist or something a bit more seedy, particularly given his quickness to sneakily objectify Bardot, we can't deny he takes a good photograph. Especially when the subject is as stunning as Brigitte.

"Brigitte Bardot: 13 Unseen Photographs, London 1968" is on view at Dadiani Fine Art in London until June 30.





-- 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.


Dazzling Macro Photographs Reveal The Unexpected Beauty Of Marijuana Buds

0
0
alpha
Alpha Blue





The most commonly cited effects of marijuana include heightened mood, a sense of relaxation and an increased appetite. Less commonly commended, however, are the aesthetic merits of the little green buds. From far away, they appear like unassuming shrubs, yet zoom in and the Cannabis plant transforms into an emerald-toned coral reef, covered in tiny crystals and microscopic furs.

Photographer Erik Christiansen captures the psychoactive herbage in all its glory with his captivating macro photographs of the hypnotic flowers. The collection is featured in Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana, a new treatise for the medical or recreational smoker from Chronicle Books.

The stoner encyclopedia contains stunning, close-up images of 170 marijuana strains, accompanied by descriptions of their lineage, smell, taste and effects. Billed as a "visual guide for curious, sophisticated pot smokers," the book is targeted toward the new generation of legal weed users, bent on expanding the still-burgeoning economy at play.

blue
Blueberry Afgoo


Christiansen was inspired to explore his photographic subject when he began smoking himself, and soon became frustrated by the grainy, low quality images available on the web. "The photos out at the time didn’t really depict what I thought was the true essence of the bud," he explained to Slate.

He soon embarked on a process of bringing out the true beauty of each individual bud, taking between 25 and 40 macro shots of each plant from different perspectives, and then stacking them atop each other. To track down his models, Christiansen visited dispensaries in San Diego, Los Angeles, Northern California and Canada, capturing popular strains, one-of-a-kind blossoms, weed wax and other marijuana-infused goodies before his lens. "It was kind of like a treasure hunt," he said.

The resulting images are hyper-detailed portraits of stunning subjects including Lambs Bread, Sugar Daddy and Black Cherry Soda. Whether you're a stoner, a photography nerd, or just a bit curious, we're sure just ogling the photos below will provide some sense of euphoria.



black
Black Cherry Soda


honey
Honeycomb


lambs
Lambs Bread


nyc diesel
NYC Diesel


shatter
Shatter


sour
Sour Dubble


sugar
Sugar Daddy


Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana, by Dan Michaels, with photographs by Erik Christiansen is available from Chronicle Books.

-- 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.

Artist Olafur Eliasson Invites New Yorkers To Build Their Own Utopia -- With Legos

0
0
New York City’s High Line has always felt like an architectural utopia. A defunct railroad reclaimed as an elevated park, the space invites the mingling of tourists and locals, west-side parents and Brooklyn youth. It encourages strolling, skyline-gazing, jostling (gently) for seating space -- and, starting this summer, Lego brick building.

That newest opportunity for communal interaction is the result of Olafur Eliasson’s "The Collectivity Project," an art installation that provides the conditions for viewers to co-create. Or, in simpler terms, the Danish-Icelandic artist has offered up thousands of white Lego bricks for High Line-walkers to build their own mini-urban utopias.

On the surface it may strike as child’s play, but beneath the blocks lies an extensive theory of how people define spaces and negotiate hierarchies -- crucial questions in today's New York City.

collectivity4


Though Eliasson lives in Copenhagen and works in Berlin, he has a longtime relationship with the installation site. After spending the early ’90s in New York, Eliasson has consistently returned around twice a year, maintaining a finger on its ever-changing pulse. The year 2008 saw both his “Take Your Time” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and “New York City Waterfalls," a massive public art installation in New York Harbor. In fact, Eliasson was involved in the early High Line renovation discussions, though he opted not to engineer the area himself.

Recently, colleagues reached out to him again about a collaboration in the park, and “The Collectivity Project” seemed a natural fit.

This summer actually marks the project’s fourth appearance, with previous Lego installations happening in Tirana, Oslo and Copenhagen. But Eliasson stressed, when talking to The Huffington Post, that the work is not like a painting that remains stable as it goes on repeated exhibitions. Local character changes the project dramatically.

collectivity7


In Tirana, Albania, for instance, the Legos arrived just after the end of Socialist Party control. Viewers were encountering the bricks for the very first time, and unconventional building antics -- like Legos stacked hole-side up -- ensued. Eliasson recalls a moving moment when a police officer and cigarette-selling child abandoned their normally separate social roles to create together.

In Manhattan, responding to local context meant collaborating with architectural firms such as Bjarke Ingles and Robert A.M. Stern. Older renditions of the project began with an entirely blank slate, but this time Eliasson reached out to developers working around the High Line to build a series of starter edifices, whose stature would inspire participants.

collectivity2


Though Eliasson describes himself as utopian, a blank slate of possibility seemed incongruous with the setting of New York City. He thought it might smack of a “let’s all be naive and sit in a circle and hold hands” sentiment, he said, which would suffer from attention deficit in a city overwhelmed with creative endeavors.

Identifying differences in local context has a tendency to lead to blanket cultural statements -- for instance, on collective Europe versus individualistic America. But Eliasson is wary of drawing “good and bad, red and blue” distinctions between these cultures. For him, each context includes different challenges and solutions to public spaces. If European collectivity is remarkable for its large-scale government endeavors, Americans manage private interests with smaller, neighborhood-level works.

Certainly, the High Line itself exists at the crossroads of public and private; accessible to all, it’s also gentrified the Chelsea neighborhood and benefited the same private architectural firms Eliasson's enlisted in the piece. Collectivity, for Eliasson, means negotiating, more than removing, these hierarchies.

collectivity3


The hierarchies he talks about exist between people and the larger social structures surrounding them. And they exist between different people, who are brought together by the project but would otherwise remain separate.

Those deemed traditionally more knowledgable or powerful, Eliasson explained to The Huffington Post, might find their roles inverted. The teenager is likely more gifted with Legos than his father, just as the Albanian policeman found himself working with an unexpected collaborator. Rather than rely on speech and conversation -- which Eliasson believes can create a "territorialism" between different parties -- viewers use "muscle memory" to communicate with each other. It’s a language that levels differences in class and age.

The website description of the project says the installation provides a “compelling counterpoint” to the surrounding area, and Eliasson stressed that viewers should see their Lego versions as “models” for the buildings cropping up around viewers -- not as facts of life. That is to say, they are structures that can be changed and "negotiated" (Eliasson’s favorite word).

collectivity5


Eliasson sees this as a “phenomenological approach” to creating space, accepting the stimuli of those around him and co-creating with others -- instead of the top-down model often associated with architecture.

That approach runs through much of Eliasson’s work, for instance in “The Parliament of Reality” at Bard College and in his 75-person studio that brings together experts from various disciplines. (When he talked to The Huffington Post, he was about to board a flight to Addis Ababa to consult on and develop new public space projects in Ethiopia's capital city.)

collectivity6


Perhaps most importantly, that approach to space provides a useful model for those concerned with the deepening divisions of New York City. It scales down negotiation to Lego blocks and makes collectivity a question of child’s play.

Eliasson’s theoretical grounding runs deep, and his lens is global, but his work manifests locally and simply. It moves the High Line walkers -- concerned as they are with rising rents or with social hierarchies -- just a bit closer to utopia.

All images courtesy of Olafur Eliasson Studio.

-- 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.

'50 Shades of Food' Series Offers A Whole New Take On Food Porn

0
0
You’ve seen it taking over Instagram and Pinterest feeds: sensuous sundaes, carnal cheeseburgers, meals so tantalizing they seem obscene. But those, it turns out, are just the PG takes on food porn. And they’re nothing compared to photographer Bryan Regan’s “50 Shades of Food” series.

50shades7


When Regan first noticed the popularity of the E.L. James novel, he didn’t intend to do much with it. He read most of the first book, 50 Shades of Grey, but never made it to the end. Then, one day, he found himself in the studio without a scheduled shoot. On a whim, he had the idea to grab a chicken, tie it down with some gear, and call it “50 Shades of Food.” After googling “food bondage,” he realized he’d stumbled on a whole body of work -- which he decided to push further into fetishism.

50shades6


Like the novel that inspired them, the photos are captivating, if horrifying: asparagus tied in ropes, a french fry and ketchup packet handcuffed together, more dildos than we can count. Though the images might seem to comment on the Instagram fetishization of food, don’t get carried away constructing complex theories or interpretations. Regan sees it as “just a playful piece that I hope people can look at and have a good laugh." A reassuring sentiment to sit back and enjoy a punny title and some ridiculous photos.

Just be careful how long you spend with them. When asked about responses to the work, Regan responded simply, “I still cannot eat a donut.”

50shades12


50shades3


50shades4


50shades5


50shades8


50shades9


50shades10


50shades2


50shades13


50shades1

-- 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.

Watch The 'Nurse Jackie' Cast Recall Their Favorite Moments From The Show

0
0
"Nurse Jackie" fans have only three episodes left before bidding farewell to All Saints Hospital. As the clock winds down on the show's seventh season, the cast is looking back at their favorite moments from the series. Watch Edie Falco (Jackie), Anna Deavere Smith (Gloria), Paul Schulze (Eddie), Dominic Fumusa (Kevin) and Stephen Wallem (Thor) recount theirs in these videos, which Showtime provided exclusively to The Huffington Post.


























The "Nurse Jackie" series finale airs at 9 p.m. on June 28, 2015.

-- 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.

Saudi-Led Airstrikes Destroy Part Of Yemen's UNESCO World Heritage Site

0
0
SANAA, June 12 (Reuters) - Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed at least six people, Yemen's state news agency Saba said on Friday, and destroyed part of Sanaa's Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The raid, which began in the early hours, also injured several people, reduced five houses to rubble and damaged other buildings, the Houthi rebel-controlled news agency said.

sanaa
Yemenis search for survivors under the rubble of houses in the UNESCO-listed heritage site in the old city of Yemeni capital Sanaa, on June 12, 2015. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images)


The Old City has been inhabited for nearly 2,500 years and has a high density of unique ochre and white, mud-brick, tower houses, labyrinthine souqs, mosques and hammams or bathhouses.

"We heard screaming in the alley at around 3 a.m. (midnight GMT) after Saudi strikes hit the area and ran outside to find three houses all destroyed," Abdullah, an Old City resident, told Reuters.

sanaa
Yemenis search for survivors under the rubble of houses in the UNESCO-listed heritage site in the old city of Yemeni capital Sanaa, on June 12, 2015. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images)


"We started digging to get the victims out and six hours later managed to pull out only five (bodies) all from the same family," he said.

UNESCO condemned the bombing, noting that historical buildings, monuments, museums and archaeological sites across the country had all suffered since the start of the conflict.

"I am profoundly distressed by the loss of human lives as well as by the damage inflicted on one of the world's oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape," UNESCO's Director General Irina Bokova, said in a statement on the agency's website.

sanaa
Yemenis search for survivors under the rubble of houses in the UNESCO-listed heritage site in the old city of Yemeni capital Sanaa, on June 12, 2015. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images)


For more than 11 weeks, an Arab military grouping led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing the Houthis, now the dominant group in Yemen, in a bid to restore the exiled president to power and support local fighters in battlefields nationwide.

The World Health Organization said on Friday 2,584 people have been killed and 11,065 injured in the conflict so far.

sanaa
Rescuers, mostly neighbors and local men, attempt to dig a family out of a collapsed home after a Saudi-led airstrike in the old city of Sanaa, June 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Alex Potter)


U.N.-sponsored talks are due to be held in Geneva on Sunday to try to find a solution to the crisis which has left 80 percent of the population needing some form of humanitarian aid. (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Louise Ireland)

sanaa
The moon shines over the remains of a half destroyed home in the old city after a Saudi-led airstrike in the old city of Sanaa, June 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Alex Potter)

-- 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.

Viewing all 18483 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images