Actor Derek Luke's online followers became concerned with the race of his wife recently, and he's not having it.

Luke, 41, addressed the issue via Instagram after he noticed some comments on one of his social media accounts concerned with the fact that his wife is not Black. He has been married to actress Sophia Adella Luke (born Hernandez) for 17 years, and he put critics in their place with a lengthy caption on a picture of him and his wife.

Luke said in the post that who he marries is no one's business and multi-racial marriages should not be a “problem” in this day and age. His Instagram response was posted last week but caught major outlets’ attention on Wednesday.

The actor also corrected commenters who attempted to guess his wife's race. Luke wrote: "She's not white, she's not black, she's not Chinese, she's Hispanic."

In his response, Luke may have confused Hispanic to be a race as opposed to an ethnicity, but he certainly drives home the point that you can’t judge a person’s background based on physical appearances alone.

Luke stars as Malcolm Deveaux on Fox's hip-hop drama "Empire." He is also known for his role in Denzel Washington’s directorial debut “Antwone Fisher” in 2002.

 "My wife may not be Black but she is mine," Luke wrote towards the end of his post. "And she's mine with a heart of gold."

H/T Fox News Latino 

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SEATTLE (AP) — True-crime writer Ann Rule signed a contract to write a book about an unknown Seattle serial killer six months before he was identified as her co-worker Ted Bundy, who shared the night shift at Seattle's Crisis Clinic.

The woman credited by her publisher with reinventing the previously male-dominated true crime genre by focusing on the victims has died at age 83.

Rule wrote more than 30 books, including "The Stranger Beside Me," which profiled Bundy.

Rule and Bundy met in 1971 and their relationship was mostly a grim coincidence, except that he later confessed to eight murders in the state of Washington.

The FBI says Bundy started to kill attractive college students in Washington state around 1974 and was first arrested in 1975, but he later escaped and continued killing.

Bundy was executed in Florida's electric chair in 1989 for the 1978 rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl. He had been found guilty of two other 1978 killings and suspected in 20 to 40 others. Authorities said he confessed to at least 23 of them in the hours before his execution.

Rule's book on Bundy — her first and most famous — was published in 1980. She said she corresponded with him until his death.

Rule died at Highline Medical Center at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, said Scott Thompson, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health. Rule's daughter, Leslie Rule, said on Facebook that her mother had many health issues, including congestive heart failure.

"My mom died peacefully last night," Leslie Rule wrote. "She got to see all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

Ann Rule, who went to work briefly at the Seattle Police Department when she was 21, began writing for magazines including "True Detective" in 1969. A biography on her author website says she has published more than 1,400 articles, mostly on criminal cases.

Rule said she was fascinated by killers' lives, going back to their childhood to find clues about why they did what they did. But her books focused on victims, and she became an advocate for victims' rights.

"By deciding to focus her books on the victim, Ann Rule reinvented the true crime genre and earned the trust of millions of readers who wanted a new and empathetic perspective on the tragic stories at the heart of her works," Carolyn Reidy, president and chief executive officer of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement.

After attending numerous workshops on crime topics from DNA to arson, local law enforcement, the FBI and the Justice Department started turning to Rule for her expertise on serial murders.

She aided the Green River Task Force as that group sought another Seattle-area serial killer, passing along tips that her readers shared. She wrote a book about the case, "Green River, Running Red."

Rule was born in 1931 in Lowell, Michigan, to a schoolteacher and a football, basketball and track coach. They moved around a lot when she was a kid, traveling from Michigan, to Pennsylvania, Oregon and California because of her father's coaching career.

She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in creative writing, with minors in psychology, criminology and penology.

She was the mother of five children and the grandmother of five.

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The in-depth profile is a magazine staple -- a nuanced look at the cover star of that month, revealing the subject's workout regimen, lunch du jour, thoughts on their latest project and, if we're lucky, some as yet unrevealed factoid to file away in our collective unconscious. Whether we want to be them, be with them, or just find out what it feels like to try on a different persona for a while, we'll always be drawn to Q&As about other people's lives.

If you want to get your fix of stories about fascinating lives but tire of staring at screens or loathe the paper pileup of discarded monthlies, consider the fine medium of podcasts. They're free, downloadable on demand, portable and don't weigh down your recycling every month. Plus, simply because this medium has a more niche presence versus the behemoths of radio, TV, web and print doesn't mean they don't attract quality talent and compelling stories.

Here are 8 podcasts to dive into on your next road trip or workout session:  

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Want A Lesson In How People Judge Women's Voices? Start A Podcast.

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Vagueness is the enemy of creativity. Beethoven didn't just come up with the idea that a symphony could express heroism; he also wrote the precise notes that conveyed that concept in sound. For ideas to be both novel and useful—a standard definition of creativity—they need to be expressed in highly specific terms.

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Amid fear that screens will squander our attention spans and squelch our thirst for books, writers have taken to their laptops to defend the importance of reading. But while the benefits of books, from fostering empathy and inspiring creative thinking, are worth acknowledging, we’re not exactly in danger of losing them. In fact, we’ve been sounding the death knell for literature for decades, only to find that writers continue to write -- and readers continue to read -- great stories.

E.M. Forster, best known for A Passage to India, was as qualified as anyone to comment on the future of the novel. And he did so, briefly, in the conclusion to his 1927 collection of criticism, Aspects of the Novel. As it turns out, pontificating on what lies ahead for storytelling -- a past time we bookish folk engage in today with some maddening frequency -- has a long history.

Forster writes, “Speculations, whether sad or lively, always have a large air about them, they are a convenient way of being helpful or impressive.”

Yep.

In the '20s, he reflected, “It is tempting to conclude by speculations as to the future of the novel: will it become more or less realistic, will it be killed by the cinema, and so on.” According to Forster, these concerns aren't worth mulling over -- no matter how much the world changes, someone's bound to comment on it, and doing so with a written narrative is our natural inclination. 

It’s refreshing, amid Amazon-inflicted doomsday cries, to recall Forster’s words, which remind us that movies once posed a threat to literature, just as the multitudinous distractions of the web supposedly loom over our ability to focus on a single plot for hundreds of pages.

Forster wasn’t alone in wondering whether the bright and whirring distractions of film would end our collective interest in written stories. Many classic authors had fraught relationships with movies too, disparaging them while living on the income they provided. J.D. Salinger, for example, sold the movie rights to a short story he published in The New Yorker before penning The Catcher in the Rye. Dismayed by the discrepancies between the written work and the adaptation, he began criticizing movies, and disallowed the making of silver screen renditions for his later works. It’s somewhat of a trend among authors -- Stephen King didn’t approve of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” and Roald Dahl called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” “crummy.” 

But, in spite of skepticism about film’s ability to capture psychological nuances and interior monologues the way literature does -- that’s a debate for another time -- its arrival as a storytelling medium can be seen as complementary to novel-writing, rather than a scary interference. Obviously, some of America’s most memorable books were written after 1927, and there’s no reason why that should change. It’s arguable, also, that screens capturing our collective gaze haven’t impeded our desire to read. As author Walter Mosley wrote for The Wall Street Journal, readers have always been a small subset of the world's population. The popularization of movies can be seen as running parallel to the popularity of reading books -- over the past several decades, the two seem to have not influenced one another directly. 

1927, the year Forster alluded to fear of a cinematic takeover, was also a landmark year for film. The first-ever feature-length "talkie" was released, and grossed $3.9 million at the box office -- around $120 million when adjusted for inflation. Even when considering population growth and easier access to theaters, that's a fraction of the box office earnings for this year's most popular flick, "Jurassic World," which brought in over $600 million. So, movies are undoubtedly becoming more popular -- but so are books.

We calculate book sales by copies sold, not net earnings. Even so, the trend is clear. In 1927, the bestselling book was Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry, a religious satire made popular by the fact that its salaciousness lead to banning in Boston and beyond. The novel sold 175,000 copies in six weeks. This year, Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train sold an estimated 1.5 million copies, sought after for its comparisons to the wildly popular book-turned-film Gone Girl. The Daily Beast speculates that its “the fastest-selling adult book in history,” and that includes all of those novels released pre-Internet, and pre-movies.

The uproarious popularity of both thrillers like Hawkins' and Pulitzer-winning sagas runs counter to the End of Fiction narrative touted by worriers long after Forster. Except now, in place of our worry about movies, we’ve angled our complaints at the web. Journalist Karl Taro Greenfeld, who wrote an op-ed for The New York Times about Millennials’ tendency to fake cultural literacy, might be the nosiest critic of the Internet. In an NPR segment, he voiced concern about bookish memes subbing in for reading actual books. But while studies show we do process paper and digital text differently, sales data indicates that the Internet hasn’t weakened our interest in picking up bound-and-printed texts. 

Just as blog posts haven’t inhibited readers, blogging hasn’t inhibited the creation of good novels. Instead, writers responded to the Internet by doing what they’ve always done: they write about it. And the public responds as its long responded: they buy, and read, books. Good books, trashy books, short books, long books. Books in a box, books with a fox.

Forster hinted at the durability of great storytelling in his essay. Of the writers of the future, he writes, “The change in their subject matter will be enormous; they will not change." In other words, "We may harness the atom, we may land on the moon, we may abolish or intensify warfare, the mental processes of animals may be understood; but all these are trifles, they belong to history, not art.”

There’s one caveat he admits to, though. For the nature of book-writing and book-reading to change, human nature itself must change. Forster concedes this is a possibility, should “individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way,” be it via their relationship to organized religion, to government, to family. But, on the whole, regardless of technological developments, he concludes, “History develops, art stands still.”

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Locals call it "Rapist Lane."

At night, no lights ignite it. In the day, idle buses line its sides, slated to eventually shuttle workers home from a nearby factory. The road, stretching only a quarter kilometer through Yelahanka -- a suburb of the leafy southern Indian city of Bangalore -- is full of warning signs for any woman who peers down it, from the wall of buses, to men urinating. No commercial activity enlivens its days save the passage of a lone vegetable seller at four in the afternoon and an ice cream cart an hour later.

An instinctive feeling of unease overshadows reality here, as it does India itself. Since the brutal gang-rape in 2012 of a medical student in Delhi, Western and domestic media have echoed their own damning title -- "the rape capital of the world" -- though recent studies place India third in reported rapes (first is the United States, where a woman is raped every 6.2 minutes, according to statistics, versus every 10 minutes in India). 

In Yelahanka, too, statistics belie perception. No police records indicate that a rape has ever occurred on its infamous street, according to Jasmeen Patheja, a local artist. The incongruity struck her as significant. For more than a decade, Patheja has run Blank Noise, an art collective staffed by student volunteers who attend the nearby university. When Patheja heard rumblings from volunteers of the street's nickname, she recognized the gaps between perception and reality fragmenting the country. 

The group's attempt at bridging that divide resonated far outside their enclave this month, as the project took first place in the International Award for Public Art, a Sino-American initiative that annually recognizes work aimed at changing civic thought somewhere in the world.

Titled "Talk To Me," Blank Noise's winning project made use of the basic act of conversation. Armed with samosas and chai, the collective's members -- many of them young women nervous even to visit the project site, Patheja says -- invited passersby to sit at tables they'd set up on the notorious lane. The aim was to spark empathy between people of different backgrounds, genders and castes, a force Patheja believes could transform the country. Underpinning the effort was a rhetorical shift: impelling Blank Noise members to refer to the road instead as "the Safest Lane."

"The first step was to start calling it that," Patheja recently told The Huffington Post, speaking from Bangalore by phone. "Then we tried to change our attitude towards it, and actually make it the safest lane." 

Launched in 2012, the project has since been staged on streets in Delhi and Kolkata. Its animating insight is that feelings can reveal more than statistics. At each site, female volunteers typically start off the discussion by describing their experiences with street harassment. The listening strangers, invited by a flyer explaining the project's aim, then elect to sit down and carry on the conversation with someone, or move on.

One volunteer in Yelahanka, 20-year-old Anamika Deb, found herself approached by a male doctor. The conversation veered to a touchy topic -- the doctor's questionable approach to meeting women, which involved prowling campuses in search of girls to talk to. Deb later described to a reporter the value of discussing the system's drawbacks in person. The tablemates enacted an exchange the likes of which neither had done before, Deb explaining why women would reasonably find such a gesture threatening, and the doctor asking how he could reform his clumsy approach.

“Just because we sat across each other, I could see he earnestly wanted to speak to women," Deb said. "He had experienced much rejection on the way, and was quite taken aback when I told him his methods were not likely to work."

The anecdote reveals the particular complexity of India's sexual violence, rooted in beliefs inevitably flattened by the news cycle, from caste resentment to repression to gender bias.  

Media reports lacking in nuance arm jingoists who would see no progress take place. Steps that might alter public perception are often ignored by officials who cite countervailing numbers that haven't been properly examined. Many of these statistics, as the economist Amartya Sen has pointed out in one of the rare statistical analyses on the subject, are plagued by problems of self-reporting and larger misconceptions of what rape is.  

Writing in the New York Review of Books nearly a year after the Delhi tragedy, Sen po statistics must be treated delicately if the issues skewing them are to be diagnosed. That something is rotten in India is a feeling hard to argue with, no matter the official evidence. An un-examined acceptance of the reported frequency of sexual violence obscures the government's weakness in "monitoring rape and taking steps to reduce it," Sen writes. Oversights that lead to flawed records also keep the sickness aflame, he argues, blaming "inefficient policing, bad security arrangements" and a "slow-moving judicial system" for enabling rape culture. In other words, India could very well be the rape capital of the world, for reasons that prevent us from knowing if that's the case.

In the absence of reliable data, emotions are one barometer for the health of a society. Yet, the civic disinterest in addressing women's feelings -- however unsupported by localized statistics -- is evident. Busted lights stay unfixed and police cars rarely neutralize the presence of parked buses, despite the common wisdom that empty vehicles attract would-be rapists in search of enclosed spaces. (The haunting events in Delhi, after all, unfolded on a private bus.) Consequently, women avoid certain streets and men huddle on them unfazed, the line between both sides growing brighter.

Even if only slightly, chai and chats could begin to fade that border. "With a conversation, there's empathy," Patheja said. "There is a possibility of making human beings out of stereotypes, and perhaps leaving with a new idea about assumed differences."

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There are only so many hours in the week you can spend streaming old episodes of "Seinfeld," staring at a glowing screen while the faint echo of a bird tweeting reminds you that life on the other side of your apartment window still exists. Netflix is THE BEST, but even the purest of devotees feels that twinge of guilt when a "Are you still watching?" message flits across your laptop or television.  

Arts and culture lovers would be wise to maximize the time they spend worshipping at the altar of on-demand media by perusing the list of all the arts, books and culture-related documentaries streaming right this very minute. Because it's hard to feel bad about spending an hour or three indoors when you're educating yourself on the history of Polaroid film, or the nun who inspired Henri Matisse. Knowledge, man.

Behold, 21 Netflix-ready documentaries you should stream right now:

1. "Ballet 422" (2014): For the dance-obsessed

Follow along backstage with 25-year-old choreographer Justin Peck as he works on the world premiere of "Paz de la Jolla," the New York City Ballet's 422nd production.

2. "Bill Cunningham New York" (2010): For the photography-obsessed

If you're a fan of Bill Cunningham, the now 86-year-old photographer known for both his glamorous fashion spreads and frank street shots, this is the doc for you.

3. "Salinger" (2013): For the literary-obsessed

For Salinger fans, most know the famous Catcher in the Rye author was a storied recluse. Here's your chance to peek inside his secretive life. Bonus: cameos from lots of stars like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Gore Vidal.

4. "Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton" (2014): For the avant-garde music-obsessed

If you'd like the know-how to brag about an obscure but much respected record label, watch this film and get ready to have folks like Kanye West and Mike D school you on the importance of Stones Throw Records. 

5. "Sagrada" (2014): For the architecture-obsessed

Really, for anyone who enjoys architecture, Gaudi or the beauty of Barcelona.

6. "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness" (2013): For the animation-obsessed

Step inside the world of Studio Ghibli, an animation haven co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki, the mastermind behind "Princess Mononoke" and "Ponyo," who's often called the Walt Disney of Japan.

7. "Dear Mr. Watterson" (2013): For the comics-obsessed

Everything you wanted to know about the creator of Calvin & Hobbes. Cue "awwwwww"s. 

8. "Altman" (2014): For the subversive film-obsessed

This is a documentary about Robert Altman, considered by many to be one of the most influential filmmakers in history. A director and writer who lavished his anti-Hollywood reputation, Altman was equally celebrated for his work on the television show "M*A*S*H" as films like "Nashville" and "The Long Goodbye."

9. "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me" (2013): For the Broadway-obsessed

A candid look at the life and career of Elaine Stritch, an actress and singer who was so much more than her iconic "30 Rock" character, Colleen Donaghy. 

10. "Mona Lisa Is Missing" (2012): For the art crime-obsessed

The story of the "greatest little-known art theft" of all time, when Vincenzo Peruggia stole the "Mona Lisa."

11. "Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film" (2012): For the vintage-film obsessed

Anyone who's experienced the magic of an instant film camera -- particularly, Polaroid -- will enjoy this nostalgic trip through photo history.

12. "Ballerina" (2006): For the ballet-obsessed

Follow the lives of five Russian ballerinas as they rehearse, audition and perform throughout different periods of their lives.

13. "Tiny: A Story About Small Living" (2013): For the tiny architecture-obsessed

Do you love architecture? Do you love tiny things? This documentary will make you want to toss out your king-size bed and move into the teeny tiniest of homes. 

14. "Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?" (2013): For the Michel Gondry-obsessed

No one will illuminate the thoughts of philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" director Michel Gondry. Bonus: lovely animations.

15. "A Model for Matisse" (2005): For the painting-obsessed

Meet Sister Jacques-Marie, the nun who functioned as French painter Henri Matisse's one time muse. View the trailer here.

16. "Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory" (2014): For the music therapy-obsessed

This documentary follows social worker Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, as he explores music's ability to affect the well-being and neurological functioning of individuals with memory loss.

17. "Stripped" (2014): For the Sunday funnies-obsessed

More than a few comic artists discuss the future of newspaper cartoons. Yes, more Calvin & Hobbes.

18. "Objectified" (2009): For the design-obssessed

Ever wonder who imagined the design of the carrot peeler you use weekly for home-cooked dinners? Or that sleek chair you love sitting in at the corner coffee shop? This documentary answers all these design questions and more.

19. "Drew: The Man Behind the Poster" (2013): For the movie poster-obsessed

"Drew" refers to both the art of illustrating a movie poster by hand, as well as the first name of legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan.

20. "Sherman's March" (1986): For the documentary filmmaking-obsessed

Come for the history of General William Sherman, stay for director Ross McElwee's hybrid documentary filmmaking aesthetic, in which he can't help but infuse his autobiography (of love, of heartbreak, of paranoia) into this very unique historical reflection.

21. "Hecho en Mexico" (2012): For the Mexican music-obsessed

Mexico is obviously a country far more beautifully complex than its politics and crime rates might suggest to some. This film takes viewers inside the music and art scenes so vibrant there today.

Oldies but goodies: "The Artist Is Present," "Paris Is Burning," "Fame High," "The Punk Singer," "Pina," "Bronies," "Meet the Fokkens," "Exit Through the Gift Shop," "Slavoj Žižek: The Pervert's Guide To Ideology"

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In the words of almighty queen Audre Lorde: "The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire."

In other words, eroticism is powerful. It always has been. And art is there to prove it.

In fact, the very first artistic venture of all time just may have been a tribute to eroticism's all-consuming force -- a simple cave drawing of a vulva, to be precise. How does one navigate from said minimalist genitalia to the more recognizable erotic artworks of folks like Egon Schiele and Gustav Courbet? You came to the right place.

Today we're examining art history's raciest nooks and crannies, from 32,000 B.C. to the early 20th century. Be warned, this tour is not for the prudish -- or those on a work computer. For the rest of you, please enjoy our NSFW glimpse at the eternal love affair between eroticism and art. 

Prehistoric Titillation in France 

Around 37,000 years ago, in Southern France's rock shelter Abri Castanet, one bold (or very bored) artist dared go where no prehistoric creative had ventured before. With care and precision, he or she carved into the rock a lone vulva. Not only is this vision of prehistoric vagina the earliest erotic artwork known to date, it may also be the oldest cave engraving, period, proving once and for all that artists love their nudes.

Mound of Venus in Austria

Very little is known about the iconic limestone sculpture now known as "Venus of Willendorf," created between 28,000 B.C. and 25,000 B.C. in Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria. Now, however, the bodacious babe and her prominent labia have become an iconic example of early artistic renderings of the fertile female nude. 

Proto-Playboy in Egypt

Turns out Ancient Egypt was home to the world's first naughty men's magazine. Measuring in at 8.5 feet, a massive papyrus scroll, dubbed The Turin Erotic Papyrus, features 12 erotic vignettes and a variety of sexual positions. The 1150 B.C. issue centerfold features an orgy of horny pharaohs. 

Dirty Dishes in Greece

Around 500 B.C., the ancient Greeks were known to throw symposiums, or drinking parties, where groups of toga-clad individuals would gather to eat, get drunk and talk philosophy. The rituals often featured kylixes, shallow cups with humorous and often suggestive images adorning the rim and bottom, which revealed themselves only when the wine was properly guzzled. 

Also all the rage in Ancient Greece was pederasty, an erotic relationship between an adult male and a teen boy. At the time, Greek culture was saturated with images of such relationships, often realized via Attic vases. Somewhat strangely, the boy's genitals are rarely depicted with an erection, even when being fondled, and penetrative sex is never depicted, only intercrural. 

Dicks and Stones in India

India's Śuṅga Empire lasted between 187 and 78 B.C., and was defined by a burgeoning of art and philosophy. This was when royal patrons first started sponsoring the arts, specifically sculptures of stone and terra cotta, some of which featured some pretty graphic imagery, as depicted below.

Panhandling in Rome

One of the most iconic examples of early erotica is this Roman sculpture dating back to 20 A.D., featuring Pan, a half-goat, half-man Satyr from Greek mythology, having sex with a goat. When the British Museum displayed the work in 2013 they provided viewers with a warning sign, but spokesperson Olivia Rickman told The Huffington Post ancient Rome wasn't ashamed of displaying sex and explicit imagery. "It was not something to be hidden away," she said.

Hot for Pottery in Peru

The ancient Peruvian civilization Moche, active from 100 A.D. to 800 A.D., was another group who recognized the naughty potential just lurking in your ceramics cabinet. The Moche culture was particularly known for depicting anal sex rather than vaginal, sometimes with an infant breastfeeding during the act. 

Kama Sutra In India

Vātsyāyana's famed Kama Sutra is a Sanskrit guide to getting it on that dates back to between 400 B.C. and A.D. 200. The guide features descriptions of 64 types of sexual acts, while articulating how desire can lead to a virtuous life. Although the first edition did not feature illustrations, it wasn't long before many artists stepped up to try their hand at immortalizing the wheelbarrow. 

A Permanent Erection in Greece

Meet Priapus, a Greek fertility god known for his oversized genitalia and permanent erection. Only, back in the first century in Greece, being well endowed was not a good thing, and his image was used mainly for laughs. Statues of Priapus and his perma-hard-on were commonly found in ancient doorways, and those who passed by were meant to stroke the statuesque penis. 

The Tripod in Rome

In Rome, Priapus was also a thing, and, unlike the Greeks, the Romans admired his large member. Sometimes they made depictions of Priapus with his large erection being weighed on a scale agaisnt a satchel of gold, because why not. 

Risky Renaissance in Italy

The Italian Renaissance was collectively scandalized by an erotic text called I Modi (The Ways), illustrated by Marcantonio Raimondi, in which 16 sexual positions were explicitly visualized via detailed engravings. The originals, published in 1524, were destroyed and Raimondi was arrested, but copies of the original graphic encounters survive today. To provide scholastic credibility to his work, Raimondi hilariously rendered each of his sexual encounters using famous or mythological couples, like Antony and Cleopatra or Mars and Jupiter.

Turkish Delight

We don't know too much about this 1773 Turkish manuscript, made by illustrator Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Mustafa Al-Misri, except that it was eventually featured in "Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now." And it involves an interconnected circle of penetration in matching fez hats.

China's Lolita

At the tail end of the Ming Dynasty -- around 1610 for the uninitiated -- an anonymous author published Jin Ping Mei, an erotic novel sometimes compared to Nabokov's classic. The accompanying illustrations, which date back to the 17th century, capture the ribald spirit of the text.

Shunga in Japan

Shunga are the erotic woodblock prints popular in Japan's Edo period, around the turn of the 19th century. The renderings, at once salacious and silly, were dispersed throughout all members of society, given to samurais for good luck and as sexual guides for virginal brides. The images features sexual acts of all kinds -- from masturbation to cunnilingus to octopus sex. 

Victorian Vagina

It wasn't until the Victorian era, specifically 1857, that content was deemed
"pornographic" in the contemporary sense, and mainstream culture began restricting the viewing of such explicit imagery. That, however, didn't stop Croatian-born, Austrian-based artist Franz von Bayros from rendering a naughty compendium of fetishistic illustrations, titled "Tales from the Dressing Table." In the series, young ladies clad in pearls and petticoats engage in lesbian romps, light BDSM and even some tasteful bestiality. 

Ménage à Trois in France

In the late 1800s, French artist Édouard-Henri Avril, under the pseudonym Paul, began illustrating the popular erotic lit of the time, the often-dubbed "galante literature."

Nude Daguerrotypes in France

Before 1839, erotic artwork was limited to drawings, paintings and sculptures. That is until Louis Daguerre came along and the world could enjoy detailed, realistic erotica thanks to the power of the daguerrotype. Because early daguerrotypes required three to 15 minutes of exposure time, the recipe for erotica shifted a bit. No longer able to capture the action of two people engaged in sex, erotic imagery focused on a sensual depiction of a nude woman, holding very still. 

Courbet's Close-up in France

Finally! Gustav Courbet's wonderfully graphic "The Origin of the World" shakes things up in 1866. With the infamous crotch shot, Courbet fought against societal standards deeming nudity only necessary when coupled with mythological idealization. Courbet changed course a bit with a radically realistic portrayal of a vagina, bush and all. 

Cop a Schiele in Austria

Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele, a protégé of Gustav Klimt, was a famed 20th-century painter known for his raw, sexual depictions. Although he had his fair share of controversies -- like reportedly being arrested for beginning an affair with a 17-year-old model -- Schiele was one of the first critically acclaimed artists to usher erotica into the realm of fine art. 

That's where our brief tour through early erotic art comes to a close. Stay tuned for Part II.

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As always, many of the year's top awards contenders will premiere or screen at the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicks off Sept. 10. Among those titles are "Freeheld," the gay-rights drama starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page; "The Martian," Ridley Scott's sci-fi survival adaptation featuring Matt Damon; the Dalton Trumbo biopic headlined by Bryan Cranston; Tom Hooper's "The Danish Girl," in which Eddie Redmayne portrays the first person to undergo gender-confirmation surgery; the adaptation of Emma Donoghue's gripping novel Room; "True Detective" writer Cary Fukunaga's "Beasts of No Nation"; a new Michael Moore movie; and the opening-night selection, "Demolition," Jean-Marc Vallée's "Wild" follow-up starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an investment banker struggling with the death of his wife. 

Huffington Post entertainment editors Matthew Jacobs and Erin Whitney will be covering the festival in September, so stay tuned for more. In the meantime, here's the first round of the lineup, which was announced during a press conference on Tuesday morning. You can also find it in PDF form, with the films' synopses and casts, here.

OPENING NIGHT FILM
“Demolition” dir. Jean-Marc Vallée, USA (World Premiere)

GALAS
“Beeba Boys” dir. Deepa Mehta, Canada (World Premiere)
“Eye in the Sky” dir. Gavin Hood, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
“Forsaken” dir. Jon Cassar, Canada (World Premiere)
“Freeheld” dir. Peter Sollett, USA (World Premiere)
“Hyena Road” (“Hyena Road: Le Chemin du Combat”) dir. Paul Gross, Canada (World Premiere)
“Lolo” dir. Julie Delpy, France (World Premiere)
“Legend” dir. Brian Helgeland, United Kingdom ((International Premiere))
“The Man Who Knew Infinity” dir. Matt Brown, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
“The Martian” dir. Ridley Scott, USA (World Premiere)
“The Program” dir. Stephen Frears, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
“Remember” dir. Atom Egoyan, Canada (North American Premiere)
“Septembers of Shiraz” dir. Wayne Blair, USA (World Premiere)
“Stonewall” dir. Roland Emmerich, USA (World Premiere)
“The Dressmaker” dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse, Australia (World Premiere)

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
“Anomalisa” dir. Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson, USA (Canadian Premiere)
“Beasts of No Nation” dir. Cary Fukunaga, Ghana (Canadian Premiere)
“Black Mass” dir. Scott Cooper, USA (Canadian Premiere)
“Brooklyn” dir. John Crowley, United Kingdom/Ireland/Canada (Canadian Premiere)
“The Club” dir. Pablo Larrain
“Colonia” dir. Florian Gallenberger, Germany/Luxembourg/France (World Premiere)
“The Danish Girl” dir. Tom Hooper, United Kingdom/Sweden (North American Premiere)
“The Daughter” dir. Simon Stone, Australia (North American Premiere)
“Desierto” dir. Jonás Cuarón, Mexico (World Premiere)
“Dheepan” dir. Jacques Audiard, France (North American Premiere)
“Families” (“Belles Familles”) dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau, France (World Premiere)
“The Family Fang” dir. Jason Bateman
“Guilty” (“Talvar”) dir. Meghna Gulzar, India (World Premiere)
“I Smile Back” dir. Adam Salky, USA (Canadian Premiere)
“The Idol” (“Ya Tayr El Tayer”) dir. Hany Abu-Assad, United Kingdom/Palestine (World Premiere)
“The Lady in the Van” dir. Nicolas Hytner, USA (World Premiere)
“Len and Company” dir. Tim Godsall, USA (North American Premiere)
“The Lobster” dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/United Kingdom/Greece/France/Netherlands (North American Premiere)
“Louder than Bombs” dir. Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Denmark (North American Premiere)
“Maggie’s Plan” dir. Rebecca Miller, USA (World Premiere)
“Mountains May Depart” (“Shan He Gu Ren”) dir. Jia Zhang-ke, China/France/Japan (North American Premiere)
“Office” dir. Johnnie To
“Parched” dir. Leena Yadav, India/USA (World Premiere)
“Room” dir. Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland/Canada (Canadian Premiere)
“Sicario” dir. Denis Villeneuve, USA (North American Premiere)
“Son of Saul” (“Saul Fia”) dir. László Nemes, Hungary (Canadian Premiere)
“Spotlight” dir. Tom McCarthy, USA (Canadian Premiere)
“Summertime” dir. Catherine Corsini
“Sunset Song” dir. Terence Davies, United Kingdom/Luxembourg (World Premiere)
“Trumbo” dir. Jay Roach, USA (World Premiere)
“Un plus une” dir. Claude Lelouch, France (World Premiere)
“Victoria” dir. Sebastian Schipper, Germany (Canadian Premiere)
“Where To Invade Next” dir. Michael Moore, USA (World Premiere)
“Youth” dir. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France/United Kingdom/Switzerland (North American Premiere)

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Art museums may seem like the guardians of the past, but they are also the provocateurs of the present, harnessing cultural artifacts to challenge -- even incite -- today’s visitors. Great exhibitions are organized not merely to rehash relics, but to reevaluate the artworks in new contexts. And, with those artworks’ aid, to reevaluate ourselves.

We have a tendency to forget that dynamic relationship between old art and new life until, by chance, a high-profile exhibit resonates with an even higher profile national conversation. Such is the case with the Museum of Modern Art’s current show “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North” in New York.

Its centerpiece is New Jersey-born Lawrence’s iconic series: 60 paintings depicting the northward migration of African Americans from 1910-1930. During that period, black populations increased by almost forty percent in Northern states, gathering around urban centers like Chicago and New York. The so-called "Great Migration" radically shifted the social and political landscape of America, setting the stage for everything from the Harlem Renaissance to today's racially-charged stop-and-frisk debates.

Lawrence's work, completed in 1941, cycles between different aspects of the journey. Some paintings depict the process of transit, some the social and economic reasons for departure, and others the mixed responses on arrival. His geometric, pared down scenes are done in a striking color palette: bold blue and yellow popping from a background of browns and black. Each image is paired with an extended caption -- all of which were pre-written with the assistance of Lawrence’s wife, Gwendolyn Knight, before he ever set brush to paint.

Though Lawrence’s first show was at the Harlem YMCA, the African American artist quickly gained mainstream recognition from the (largely white) art establishment. When “Migration Series” -- originally titled “Migration of the Negro” -- was shown at the Downtown Gallery on East 51st Street, it was a landmark event.

Soon afterward, the paintings found themselves featured in the November 1941 Fortune Magazine and eyed for purchase by two major establishments: MoMA and the Phillips Memorial Gallery. Lawrence wanted the works to be conceived of as a single unified experience -- rather than as 60 individual paintings -- but his dealer Edith Halpert separated the collection. The even ones were distributed to MoMA, the odds to the Gallery.

From time to time they’ve been reunited, though this is the first time they’ve been together for twenty years. Perusing them in MoMA’s expansive, open room is an experience not to be missed. It becomes clear, quite quickly, why Lawrence wanted the pieces to be seen as a single artwork. Together, they spark links that the isolated pieces never could.

You become attuned, for instance, to how Lawrence oscillates between the “push and pull” of migration: the discriminatory forces that thrust African Americans from the South and the promises of economic opportunity that drew them northward. You realize that racial injustice is not depicted until panel 14 and wonder whether he wanted to lure visitors in before arresting them with images of lynching. You’re perplexed when you see that burning steel from northern factories and the explosions from riots that have been painted in vibrant, fanciful hues. 

You might ponder the ways panels 19 and 49 -- separated by 30, half of 60 -- juxtapose discrimination in the South and North: a river cutting between fields parallels a rope separating restaurant seating. Or you might observe how the panels sing a rhythmic song rather than linear narrative. They loop back on their own motifs, returning to a chorus-like panel depicting crowded bodies in transit. Railroad cars re-emerge from time to time, swinging you through panels -- until one depicting a St. Louis riot stops you in your tracks.

Because it's begging for a comparison to Ferguson. But you’ll have to provide that yourself.

The show has comes at a moment when contemporary racial injustice has risen to the forefront in national consciousness, a time when Americans are asking more earnestly than before why so little has changed from the time in which Lawrence was painting. But what MoMA has done with that chance encounter between art from 1941 and life in 2015 is abstract and ambiguous.

For starters, there’s the introductory placard. After several paragraphs of Lawrence’s biography and background, it suddenly zooms out. “The story of the migration as Lawrence recognized in his Migration Series, was crucial to understanding the issues confronting Americans in 1941,” it explains, “It is crucial to understanding those that confront us today." Phrased almost as an afterthought, these two sentences describe the promise and failure of the exhibit: They gesture at broader historical trends and our contemporary racial context, but do not act upon those gestures.

The trend is visible even in the series’ title -- “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North” -- which attempts to reach beyond Lawrence’s individual story. “Other Visions,” it turns out, refers to a set of auxiliary rooms featuring prominent African American artists, poets, singers, songwriters, whose works contextualize Lawrence and seek to expand the scope of the conversation. 

These are incredible materials, which deserve individual attention and significant space. But instead they’ve been relegated to the background of contextual “otherness.” Many of those materials do not even directly address The Great Migration. Both their merits and their specificities have been subsumed under Lawrence’s banner. So while MoMA claims to trace the multiple broader historical narratives from a singular example of Lawrence’s series, the exhibition cannot help but make its show a “one-way ticket” toward the 60 paintings.

If the collection only gestures at linking Lawrence to today’s rampant racial inequalities, some of the critical responses have been encouragingly more explicit. A Daily Beast article notes that the show “has taken on added meaning by virtue of the history it brings to the present moment.” A beautiful Hyperallergic lyrical essay interweaves personal reflections on Lawrence with explicit references to the #blacklivesmatter movement. Freddie Grey’s name appears, and the writer juxtaposes police injustice with panel 22’s caption: "'Another of the social causes of the migrants’ leaving was that at times they did not feel safe, or it was not the best thing to be found on the streets late at night. They were arrested at the slightest provocation.' Sound familiar?”

That’s the type of direct and insightful comparison MoMA wants to offer. Instead, it operates with broad strokes. Paul Robeson’s “Ol Man River” floats earnestly over those viewing Lawrence’s paintings; Langston Hughes' poems are paired with Aaron Douglas' woodcuts. It’s lovingly arranged, but it feels too passive -- letting visitors glide dazedly through the artistic context with the vague notion that these old issues have relevance today.

A final attempt is made, when you depart, to sharpen that vague notion: a table with writing implements encourages the sharing of your own migration story, though the effort may seem somewhat half-hearted, shifting responsibility from curator to the visitor.

Still, it's a worthwhile responsibility to take on. And one several critics have done with aplomb, considering journeys through not just space but also time: how racial injustice painted decades ago has arrived as its too-close analog in 2015. Lawrence's works, displayed pristinely and evocatively as they are, can be the beginning of that personal migration. The choice to take it, though, is ours.

"One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and Other Works" will be on view until September 7, 2015. All images courtesy of MoMA.

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There's an unspoken rule in literature: Characters are white unless explicitly described otherwise.

Take, for example, Hermione Granger from Harry Potter: Thanks to actress Emma Watson, we picture the character as fair-skinned with perfectly disheveled ringlets.

In a Buzzfeed article, however, writer Alanna Bennett says that there's only one line (in The Prisoner of Azkaban) that ever explicitly refers to Hermione's skin color:  

“They were there, both of them, sitting outside Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor — Ron looking incredibly freckly, Hermione very brown, both waving frantically at him.” 

So is the fictional character actually white? Perhaps that's a determination readers should make for themselves.

Enter "racebending:" a movement in the online Harry Potter fandom that's challenging not only the way people think about the highly popular book series, but the way people read books in general. Fans and artists take characters across film, television, and literature who have historically been portrayed as white and reimagine them as black or other non-white ethnicities. 

Fanart has long been an important staple of fandom culture as a way for enthusiasts to celebrate the characters they love. With racebent fanart, Harry Potter fans on sites like Deviantart and Tumblr have produced hundreds of images that feature beloved characters from the series, particularly Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, as black, Latino, or mixed race. 

For many artists, Hermione's vague physical description has presented an opportunity to represent the character very differently. Instead of the "bushy" hair JK Rowling often describes in the books, maybe she has kinky-curly hair. Instead of simply being tan, maybe she has dark brown skin. A black Hermione Granger isn't just a chance to see something new, but an opportunity to create a more complex reading of the book series, which has political themes that draw parallels between the Death Eaters and racist hate groups. 

According to writer and Harry Potter fandom expert Ashley Reese, fans of racebent fanart find new complexity in the books by imagining a black Hermione Granger who is marginalized in both the real world and the Wizarding world (where she's considered a "mudblood" for being not of "pure" blood). 

To Reese, the idea of either Harry or Hermione being people of color seems dubious. She told The Huffington Post, "Yes, Hermione's hair is very big and very curly. Yes, she was described as very tan in one of the books after summer holiday." But if those characters were black, JK Rowling would have explicitly said so, as she always does in the text, Reese suggests. 

"Frankly, white is default in most books that we read, and Hermione was never given any specific racial descriptions. It's safe to say that Hermione is a white girl." 

And yet, whether or not these characters are canonically white, is besides the point for many racebending enthusiasts. There are few characters of color in popular fiction, and racebent fanart seeks to challenge the "white is default" assumption. 

One artist, Vondell Swain, has reimagined Harry as the mixed-race son of a black James Potter and white Lily Potter. On Tumblr, Swain explained: 

"My James is black because that creates the most personally compelling racial background for my Harry... It is informed by my personal desire for a black mixed-race hero story. It reflects my desire to contribute to young people of color feeling empowered by popular fiction and not othered by it. "

For Swain, and for so many other artists and fans of their work, redefining these characters as people of color allows them to see themselves reflected in a medium that often excludes them; it's a way to draw deeper meaning from a story that already has great meaning for them. 

JK Rowling herself has yet to comment on whether any of her characters could be read as black or mixed race, though fans have noted subtle approval. On Twitter, the author has favorited several fan illustrations of black Harry Potter characters, and she favorited an article asking whether Hermione could possibly be black.

It's also worth noting that, in 2007, Rowling revealed that one of the most important characters in the series, Albus Dumbledore, was gay -- a fact that's never directly alluded to in the text. This suggests that the race, gender, and sexual orientations of any of the characters in the Harry Potter universe should not necessarily be taken at face value. 

But the beauty of racebent fanart is that it has nothing to do with the author's intentions, the canon, or other people's opinions -- it has only to do with imagination, creativity, and an open mind. 

Below are 20 beautiful examples of Harry Potter fan art that embraces that idea:

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Mom Laleh Mohmedi likes to let her creative side take over when it comes to making meals for her 2-year-old son Jacob. Mohmedi creates meals featuring one of her toddler's favorite characters -- from Pinocchio to Olaf to Joy from "Inside Out." 

"I started purely for a bit of fun," Mohmedi told The Huffington Post. "A few months ago I made a lion out of pancakes that could have easily passed as a bear -- he absolutely loved it, and it started from there!" 

Every night before bedtime, the mom asks her son which character he would like to see on his plate the next day. Jacob chooses from amongst his favorite books, movies and toys, as well broader pop culture. "He has even asked me to make him Michael Jackson!" Mohmedi said.

The mom then looks up images of his character of choice and makes a game plan. The meals typically take between 20 and 35 minutes to make, depending on the ingredients and figure. Mohmedi photographs the finished creations and posts them on an Instagram account called "Jacob's Food Diaries." She currently has over 2,300 followers and counting.

Mohmedi said her son can't get enough of the character-driven food, which she makes one of his meals each day. "Jacob has always been a fantastic eater," she said, adding, "He likes to tell me which parts of the character he is eating! I have always been a big advocate for healthy organic food for children, so the meals have not changed -- they have just been presented differently."

Keep scrolling for a look at Mohmedi's adorable food art characters. 

H/T Mashable

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Need to let out some tears?

Sometimes only a movie can pull out those pent-up blues. If you're jonesing for an emotional catharsis, check out our list of film moments sure to get your tear ducts leaking. 

1. "The Lion King" 

2. "Marley & Me"

 3. "Cast Away"

4. "Armageddon"

5. "Pride & Prejudice"

6. "A Walk to Remember"

7. "10 Things I Hate About You"



8. "Titanic"

9. "The Notebook"

... and another (BONUS SOBS!)

10. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"

11. "Up"

12. "Bambi"

13. "The Fox and the Hound"

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When Kaitlyn Bristowe faced her most memorable rejected suitors from "The Bachelorette" Season 11 on last week's episode, "The Men Tell All," she also faced something even more daunting. Host Chris Harrison opted to read aloud, and show on screen, several of the hateful tweets directed at Kaitlyn during the season.

"Kaitlyn, you need to unspread your whore legs," read one. Some wished death upon her for her choice to have sex with contestant Nick Viall. 

Was "The Bachelorette" trying to gin up drama by cherry-picking a few cruel tweets? Tracy Clark-Flory and Leigh Cuen of Vocativ took a somewhat deeper dive into the slimy depths of Bachelor Nation and concluded, well, not really. 

Over the course of nearly a month, "a sample of the 235,000 tweets using the bachelorette hashtag [and Kaitlyn's name] showed three percent contained slut-shaming," Clark-Flory and Cuen wrote. "By extension, it’s likely that more than 6,000 of the full number of tweets included sexist slurs directed towards Bristowe." They note that other tweets slut-shamed Kaitlyn without even mentioning her name.

Nick, on the other hand, attracted little slut-shaming, though Vocativ's survey suggested no sign that he benefited from a traditional stud/slut dynamic: "People aren’t hoisting Viall atop their shoulders for having sex with the Bachelorette." Still, they pointed out, "Bristowe is targeted with several thousand slut-shaming tweets, while Viall is targeted with but a handful."

Clark-Flory and Cuen pointed out that some tweets caught up in their data are themselves calling out the slut-shaming directed at Kaitlyn, suggesting that awareness of this double-standard is out there and hopefully on the rise. We'd love to see how Twitter treats hook-up-happy Bachelors in the future to get a better sense of this double-standard, but the bile directed at Kaitlyn this season has already raised more awareness than the entire franchise had previously.

 Read the article over at Vocativ. 

For more, check out HuffPost's "Bachelorette" podcast, "Here to Make Friends":

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It's 2015. By now, reality TV is a young adult, but it hasn't grown out of "The Bachelor" franchise. Despite its bizarre dating rituals, low success rate, and questionable racial and gender politics, the stable of shows is, if anything, more popular than ever. Do people love "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," or do they love to hate it? It's unclear. But here at "Here To Make Friends," we both love and love to hate them -- and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail.

In this week's "Here To Make Friends" podcast, hosts Claire Fallon, Culture Writer, and Emma Gray, Senior Women's Editor, recap the finale of "The Bachelorette," Season 11. We'll discuss Nick's rejection, Shawn's proposal and the awkward couples therapy that was "After The Final Rose." 

Plus, Sam Usher and Sammy Smith, also known as two-thirds of The Bachelor Dudes, join to give us their "Bachelorette" finale commentary.  

The best tweets about the "Bachelorette" finale...

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When contemplating the activities and accessories that best compliment marijuana, certain things flock to mind: pizza, "Planet Earth," philosophical discussions about modes of perception, pizza. You might not, however, have considered channeling your inner kindergartener and getting lost in the thick lines, intricate patterns and infinite possibilities of a coloring book. Until now. 

If it feels a little wrong to bust out your first grade coloring book while baked, worry not. Jared Hoffman's The Stoner's Coloring Book: Coloring for High-Minded Adults is the perfect combination of relaxing nostalgia and tripped out inspiration for the weed lover in your life. You'll never want to reach for the remote again. 

"As far as a coloring book specifically for stoners, it's about intuitive entertainment for high people that is easy, creative, and not totally devoid of meaning," Hoffman explained to The Huffington Post.

"Often when you get stoned you find yourself doing nothing for hours on end. And there's nothing wrong with that! But this is a way of doing nothing that exercises your creativity and makes you feel productive, plus you get a beautiful piece of art out of it. And coloring all these psychedelic pictures is doubly absorbing if you're baked. Out of personal experience I can say that it is hard to stop coloring once you've started."

Hoffman is currently raising funds on Kickstarter to make his stoner fantasy more than just a pipe dream. He hopes to raise $6,420 by August 14, and if he makes it to $12,420, the book will feature a foil-blocked cover, perforated and bleed-proof pages and a rip-out pack of rolling papers. 

Hoffman has enlisted the help of many artists to contribute to his artistic vision, which combines psychedelic and graffiti-influenced styles to create melting black-and-white visions just begging for vibrant saturation. The Kickstarter budget exists, in part, to pay the artists for their work. If you're an artist who wants your high-minded designs featured, email Hoffman at stonerscoloringbook@gmail.com.

So, who is Hoffman's favorite artist to ogle while getting lit? "This is probably cliche, but my favorite has to be Vincent van Gogh. Those brush strokes are just so mesmerizing! Dude was definitely trippin' on something. I mean, he was Dutch." 

Bonus: for all the creative stoners of the world, let the following scenario float through your brain: "I would say my perfect coloring environment would be this: coloring while holding a blunt in my left hand, while sitting in a jacuzzi, with Seal singing 'Kiss From a Rose' barbershop quartet style just to the side." 

See a preview of Hoffman's 18+ coloring book below. 

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Twitter: Worst thing that’s ever happened to civilization, or the very worst thing that’s ever happened to civilization? Just kidding. Despite the occasional bouts of communal public hand-wringing over the hate-filled vindictiveness of the Twitter masses, the social medium has very clear upsides.

Take, for example, the trending hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter, which has famous and unknown scribblers all over sharing rude or thoughtless comments writers hear too often. Yes, this may encourage subtweeting or privately embarrass those of us who realize that we DID just tell J.K. Rowling we had a great idea for her next novel while she forced a smile through a charity photo op.

On the whole, however, this is a funny, effective way of publicizing etiquette. Instead of coldly replying, “Excuse me, but my writing is a full-time job” and stalking away from the gauche person we just met at our sister-in-law’s yearly New Year’s Eve party, we can use the power of Twitter to tell far more people it’s rude to insinuate our work is unserious, without casting a chill over the seafood buffet.

As this hashtag has gone viral, famous authors have shared hilarious bits of advice that provide a glimpse of the weird world inhabited by the widely read. For example, S.E. Hinton, the author of beloved classic The Outsiders, tweeted: 

 Oops.

Perhaps the predominant theme drawn out by the hashtag is that writers just can’t get no respect. The general population suspects writers are lazy, spend very little time working, and possess no special skill set. Most people think they could easily be writers themselves, if they had the time or inclination.

And many writers, who are frequently paid little or nothing for work that can be frustrating, mind-numbing and thankless -- much like other jobs -- have just about had it. After all, without them, we wouldn’t have “Game of Thrones” or “You’ve Got Mail” or Jezebel or The Atlantic or The Toast or even stuff like “The Daily Show” and “Broad City.” Life without writers would be pretty dull.

Hashtag activism has been criticized as frivolous, but in some areas, better awareness is the best remedy. Etiquette is the perfect cause to exploit the power of the hashtag, one consciousness-raising trending topic at a time. Maybe, before too long, we’ll all know exactly what to say to each other at all times. Thanks, Twitter.

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"I don't divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one," Mexican architect Luis Barragan once said. We doubt, however, that even Barragan could possibly have predicted his poetic words would one day manifest themselves so literally. 

Poland-based urban architecture collective BOMP has crafted a futuristic vision for the next generation of skyscrapers, one that merges the classic symbol of urban power with the boundless forces of nature. Architects Ewa Odyjas, Agnieszka Morga, Konrad Basan and Jakub Pudo are the minds behind ESSENCE, a skyscraper comprised of 11 natural landscapes including the likes of a desert, a jungle and a glacier. The bold concept recently took home first prize at eVolo’s 2015 Skyscraper Competition, a contest based on radical reimaginings of the traditional skyscraper. 

"Away from everyday routines, in a city center, a secret garden as a building combining both: an architecture and a nature is proposed," BOMP explained in a press statement. "The main goal of the project is to position non-architectural phenomena in a dense, urban fabric by using the building as a neutral background."

Basically, a true secret garden for the 21st century, ESSENCE will house a mysterious natural oasis in the midst of urban bustle. The structure will feature its 11 different natural atmospheres in one vertical tower: a glacier, mountain, grasslands, river, waterfall, cave, desert, steppe, swamp, jungle and ocean. The various natural phenomena will trigger not only a visual response from visitors, but acoustic, thermal, olfactory and kinesthetic reactions as well. 

"Firstly, we thought of an adventure, but not only this," BOMP’s Jakub Pudo explained to The Creators Project. "Imagine all the senses attracted and stimulated by the elements contained in the spaces. The overlapped landscapes combined into variable sequences could play a role of educational routes representing some significant moments in history."

ESSENCE will be 2,066 feet tall, divided into 11 distinct section The building will feature three levels containing technical facilities able to control all the demanded conditions necessary for the particular climates and conditions of the various landscapes. 

The submitted vision would not feature the assistance of virtual reality; although the landscapes may be partially artificial, there is nothing illusory about them. "We proposed artificial landscapes, but composed from natural elements, including living ecosystems," Pudo continued. "To support the conditions we introduced some levels only for technical facilities. They divide the skyscraper into parts but they do not interfere with the main program."

See more details in BOMP's plans below:

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Channing Tatum might not join the "X-Men" universe after all.

According to The Wrap, the "Magic Mike" actor is possibly planning to exit his comic-book film "Gambit." The site is reporting that the deal is falling apart between 20th Century Fox and Tatum. The actor is also on board the project as a producer with his producing partner Reid Carolin, but it's unknown whether or not he'll stay attached if director Rupert Wyatt places his star.

There's still hope, however, as The Wrap reports that Tatum's reps are still in negotiations with the studio. The Huffington Post could not immediately reach Fox or Tatum's reps for comment.

Last year, it was revealed that the actor would star as the titular "X-Men" mutant in his own film. Tatum also appeared at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month to promote "Gambit."

For more, head to The Wrap.

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