In Victorian England, a growing population and a lack of medical understanding resulted in a proliferation of so-called insane asylums that were soon present in nearly every county in the country. The institutions existed to treat "pauper lunatics" -- anyone from the chronically afflicted to people with drug addition, learning disabilities, and even "pregnant single women who had been cast out by their relatives," according to the British Journal of Psychiatry. 

From 2005 to 2010, photographer Daniel Regan explored these derelict structures full of dusty sunlight, old beds, personal artifacts, medical equipment and file cabinets, producing a photo series called "Abandoned."

He said these buildings were essentially walled cities that housed thousands, some of the complexes including cinemas, theaters, hair dressers and dentists. And today, many of them are empty.

As eerie and unsettling as they are to the viewer, the photos in "Abandoned" are more than "ruin porn," Regan told The Huffington Post. In 2004, he experienced a breakdown and spent the summer in a psychiatric hospital.

"Being in a psychiatric hospital is a strange environment that I found quite difficult," said Regan, who was 19 at the time of his stay.

"I use photography as my form of expression dealing with my issues. Walking around those buildings was a meditative practice that felt very liberating."

It was after his stay that he and a friend explored his first empty asylum. "That was the first transformative experience," he said. "In a way, I felt very connected to the space and perhaps not the experience of being a patient in an asylum, but the collective experience of people having difficulty and being in need of support. It made me feel less alone."

Of all the photographs Regan has captured during the five-year period of exploration, he considers his most important to be of a painting hanging on wall with peeling paint. "It was from the first visit that I made. There are lots of questions surrounding these buildings. I just thought, whose is this painting and why is it still here? Whose room was this? Why did they have this painting? Did they paint it? There are lots of curiosities."

While he admitted the asylums are "all very eerie," Regan explained that "it’s a surreal experience to be so alone in a building that was probably so full of people and to see a site in the form that it’s not intended to be used for."  

Today, Regan considers his photo series to be "dormant" while he focuses on developing programs that use art as therapy for people with health difficulties. He's working on a portrait series called "The Secrets Project."

All images are copyright of Daniel Regan and under no circumstance can be reproduced without permission.

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In a 52-minute interview on July 31, Bill Cosby's lawyer Monique Pressley continuously dismissed the more than 40 women who have come forward with allegations against 78-year-old.  "Either you get your day in court or you move on," Pressley told HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont-Hill.

Pressley is media-trained; she's poised and she deftly side-stepped Lamont-Hill's most damning questions. But her (sanitized, well-planned) comments offered chilling insight into the way rape culture works. They also brought into sharp relief our collective desire to assume the worst of women who "tarnish" the image of our cultural heroes. 

In light of her comments, here are five things we need to clear up:

The court of law is not the same as the court of public opinion.

"I believe that people are innocent until they're proven guilty. And if you can't prove them guilty in court through prosecution, then you don't get the option of persecution instead," said Pressley.

Bill Cosby will most likely never see the inside of a jail cell -- and the public has no power to circumvent his liberty with opinions. But we, the public, get to make judgments based on the plethora of information we have at our disposal. 

When more than 40 women come forward with stories that are consistent, in a society that systematically shames victims of sexual abuse, it is our right as private citizens to operate on the assumption that their words do have credibility -- at least as much credibility as his.

The New Inquiry's Aaron Bady wrote about the refrain of "innocent until proven guilty" as it relates to sexual assault cases and the court of public opinion. His words, pegged to accusations made against Woody Allen, hold true for Cosby as well: "His presumption of innocence can only be built on the presumption that her words have no credibility." Saying Cosby isn't a liar implies that all of the women who have made accusations against him are.

There are real reasons that women come forward decades after a sexual assault occurs.

Fear of retribution, fear of not being believed, fear of having to continuously relive a trauma, to name a few. 

Pressley took issue that Cosby's alleged victims were coming forward "10, 20, 30, 40 years later." She also expressed skepticism about why, if their claims were real, they wouldn't speak out right after the incidents occurred: "There's not any testimony or any accusation from any of these women that Mr. Cosby bound them, gagged them, prevented them from coming forward and saying whatever their truth was at the time," she told Lamont-Hill.

But when you consider the emotional trauma and scrutiny women often face when they come forward and the difficulty of proving definitively that an assault took place, is it really all that surprising these women stayed silent until their voices reached a critical mass? Plus, as Cosby accuser Therese Serignese told me in November, in the '60s and '70s, date rape "wasn't even a word,"

There are no "benefits" to making up a false allegation of assault.  

"They earn themselves a seat in a chair on the front of a magazine. They get interviewed over and over," said Pressley -- as though the promise of "fame" could explain why dozens of women came forward to recall painful, violating memories in a public forum. When people dream of "fame," does anyone really think that being  (in)famous as a victim of sexual assault is the goal?

Spoiler alert: Going public with a sexual assault accusation isn't super fun! For the vast majority of victims who come forward, the only real incentive is the vague promise of potential "justice." And when you are accusing a powerful public figure of sexual assault -- especially one who has served as a cultural "father figure" for millions of Americans -- you can bet that you'll also be facing online harassment and the disbelief of people who can't conceive that their hero could also being a rapist.

Sometimes, victims maintain cordial -- or even friendly -- relationships with the person who has sexually assaulted them. That does not act as evidence that the assault didn't occur.

During the HuffPost Live interview, Pressley reminded Lamont-Hill that Beverly Johnson's former manager claimed that the model fabricated her claims against Cosby. "That's a prime example of a situation where a longtime manager of Ms. Johnson came forward to various media outlets and said, 'Hmm, I was around during the time of this action and Ms. Johnson had nothing but positive things to say about Bill and Camille Cosby,'" she said. 

But the truth is that victims react to sexual assault in a variety of ways, and health professionals stress that there is no "correct" reaction. We often look for "perfect victims" to bolster narratives of assault -- women who react in the "right" way, do the "right" thing afterwards, have the "right" evidence. In reality, "perfect victims" don't exist. 

Victim-blaming is alive and well.

Pressley said the term victim-blaming is just "a hashtag" that exemplifies "the prevailing way that we label things." Her comments prove just how easy it is to craft a narrative where victims are at fault for what happened to them.

"Women have responsibility. We have responsibility for our bodies, we have responsibility for our decisions. We have responsibility for the way we conduct ourselves," said Pressley.

Later, she asked: "How many women and men have been willing to offer up their bodies on a casting couch? Have been willing to exchange sex for favors? Have had remorse after doing so and then accused someone who they believed they could get monetary gain out of and sell a story?"

These "many women and men" Pressley references seem more like figments of imagination created by a culture that tries its very hardest not to believe the stories of victims of sexual assault, than archetypes rooted in truth.

Here is the truth: Rape is severely underreported in the United States, which means that victims are far, far, far more likely to bury an incident and suffer silently than they are to speak out about it. Hollywood has a long, storied history of "male scumbags," who have used their privileged positions to exploit less powerful women.

"What I am doing is asking people to focus on facts," said Pressley. Looking at the facts, I'm inclined to think that Cosby isn't some miraculous exception -- he's the rule.

Head over to HuffPost Live to watch the full interview with Pressley.

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Another crazy trend is rippling through the wild world of nail art -- and this time, it's aquatic. 

"Aquarium nails" are not exactly what they sound like, in that there are no actual fish involved (that we know of). The style is, however, like an aquarium in that a special double-paned artificial nail is injected with glitter and water or baby oil to mimic the effect and movement of sparkling water.

The hypnotizing artwork gained traction after a video from Tony's Nails in Wichita Falls, Texas, made the rounds on Facebook. The video, which was posted to  Vietnamese talk show 2! Idol's page, has garnered over 17 million views so far. 

The trend is not actually new, as proven by a tutorial from 2013, but if a trip to Wichita Falls isn't in your immediate future, you might want to try it out for yourself. As a warning, DIY-ing this trend is not for the easily frustrated -- we got restless just watching. And just try to get those sequins inside the nail. Ugh.

 H/T Bustle 

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The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is an awe-inspiring source of wanderlust. And after judges searched through nearly 17,000 entries, the winners are finally in. 

Anuar Patjane Floriuk of Tehuacán Puebla, Mexico is the first place winner of the contest. He wins the grand prize, an eight-day National Geographic Photo Expedition to Costa Rica and the Panama Canal for two. 

“The photo wasn’t planned,” Floriuk said of his image showing divers near a humpback whale. “I was taking photos near the head of the whale, and all of a sudden she began to swim toward the rest of the diving team. The divers gave the whale and her calf space, and I just clicked at the moment when the flow and composition seemed right.” 

Scroll down to see the second and third place winners, as well as the seven merit winners (which are listed in no particular order). The photographers' descriptions of the winning shots are included. 

First place: Whale Whisperers; Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico

"Diving with a humpback whale and her newborn calf while they cruise around Roca Partida … in the Revillagigedo [Islands], Mexico. This is an outstanding and unique place full of pelagic life, so we need to accelerate the incorporation of the islands into UNESCO as [a] natural heritage site in order to increase the protection of the islands against the prevailing illegal fishing corporations and big-game fishing." -- Anuar Patjane

Second place: Gravel Workmen; Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh

"[This] gravel-crush working place remains full of dust and sand. Three gravel workmen are looking through the window glass at their working place." -- Faisal Azim

 Third place: Camel Ardah; Badīyah, Ash Sharqiyah, Oman

"Camel Ardah, as it [is] called in Oman, is one of the traditional styles of camel racing … between two camels controlled by expert men. The faster camel is the loser … so they must be running [at] the same speed level in the same track. The main purpose of Ardah is to show the beauty and strength of the Arabian camels and the riders' skills. Ardah [is] considered one of the most risky situations, since the camels reactions are unpredictable [and] may get wild and jump [toward the] audience." -- Ahmed Al Toqi

Merit winner: Sauna in the Sky; Monte Lagazuoi, Cortina, Eastern Italian Alps

"A sauna at 2,800 meters high in the heart of Dolomites." -- Stefano Zardini

Merit winner: Romania, Land of Fairy Tales; Bran, Brasov, Romania

"Romania, land of fairy tales. White frost over Pestera village." -- Eduard Gutescu

Merit winner: A Night at Deadvlei; Windhoek, Khomas, Namibia

"The night before returning to Windhoek, we spent several hours at Deadvlei. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the sand dunes in the distance, but the skies were still dark enough to clearly see the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds. Deadvlei means 'dead marsh.' The camelthorn trees are believed to be about 900 years old but have not decomposed because the environment is so dry." -- Beth McCarley

Merit winner: White Rhinos; Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Uganda

"The night before this photo, we tried all day to get a good photo of the endangered white rhino. Skulking through the grass carefully, trying to stay 30 feet away to be safe, didn't provide me the photo I was hoping for. In the morning, however, I woke up to all three rhinos grazing in front of me." -- Stefane Berube

Merit winner: Kushti, Indian Wrestling; Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India 

"Kushti is the traditional form of Indian wrestling. Wearing only a well-adjusted loincloth (langot), wrestlers (pelwhans) enter a pit made of clay, often mixed with salt, lemon, and ghee (clarified butter). At the end of a workout, wrestlers rest against the walls of the arena, covering their heads and bodies with earth to soak up any perspiration and avoid catching cold. This relaxation ceremony is completed with massages to soothe tired muscles and demonstrate mutual respect." -- Alain Schroeder

Merit winner: Catch a Duck; Nong Khai, Nong Khai, Thailand

"Two boys are trying to catch a duck at the stream of the waterfall." -- Sarah Wouters

Merit winner: Highlanders; Rzepiska, Poland

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Next time you're on the platform, waiting for the Q train to come alive, begging your phone for cell service, sweating your brains out and hating everyone around you -- take a moment to look around at the beautiful strangers around you. Who knows, you could end your morning commute like these two lovebirds. 

Today's piece of visual poetry, titled "Subway Love," is brought to you by Brooklyn-based poet Max Stossel and cinematographer Matthew Freidell. The uplifting short, which has over 150,000 views on YouTube, turns a mundane subway trip into a whimsical tango between potential lovers.

Stossel came up with the concept while waiting at the West 4th Street stop and realizing the ridiculousness of the subway ritual. "It was one of those times where it was taking forever and it was hot and sweaty and more and more people came and it got hotter and sweatier," he told the Daily Mail. "And all of the sudden I had this realization that we were 250 people staring into a tunnel."

What if, Stossel asks, we paid attention to the myriad people around us? Could we learn something new? Make a friend? Fall in love?

As the poem reads:

If we would only turn and face each other we might catch eyes and to our surprise the anguish of waiting might subside. We might not be so terrified of being late to work this time. Our jobs that make us sigh and cry we might stop and reanalyze. We might, I hope, even decide that we can make better use of our time. We could enjoy this mariachi band. Come, take my hand and let's pretend these fluorescents are the moon and this grimy subway floor the sand. Let's just dance.

Anyone who's ever dreamed of finding love on the subway, this is for you. 

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Another month in 2015 and another set of photos from our armed forces that leave us awestruck by the situations in which military photographers are able to capture beautiful moments. From a memorial for the fallen Marines killed in the Chattanooga shooting to a father returning home to see his children for the first time after a long deployment, these photos show us that military photography captures much more than combat. 

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Ah, the selfie. These photos taken by and of ourselves have become such a cultural touchstone that there's a museum in Manila specifically designed for taking them and a 448-page book dedicated to Kim Kardashian's collection of them. But what's the secret for snapping a selfie that cuts through the clutter? How about getting an elephant to take it for you? Or taking it on top of a 125-foot-tall statue of Jesus?

HuffPost Live's Josh Zepps talked with a panel of selfie experts on Monday about how to take the most memorable, extreme selfie possible. Check out their tips and see their favorite selfies of their own in the video above.

Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before.

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Is Sex Necessary?, a peculiar book written in the 1920s by E.B. White (Charlotte's Web) and James Thurber (“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and myriad New Yorker cartoons), defines love as a “pleasant confusion which we know exists.” Loving someone, then, is analogous with confusing them.

Described by its publisher as "a masterpiece of drollery," the book is full of perplexing aphorisms, witty rants, facetious case studies and advice about how to survive a romantic encounter. The best part, though, is that although it was written in 1929, it reads like a work of modern-day snark. Below are a few of White and Thurber's thoughts on dating, as relevant now as ever. 

Monogamy is tough to find.

In a widely shared article titled “The Real Reason Women Freeze Their Eggs,” Jillian Dunham wrote about a visit to a fertility doctor. The doctor, stunned by the increasing number of eligible bachelorettes coming to see him, remarked, “There’s something wrong with the men in your generation. They won’t grow up.” It’s a succinct thesis to a great article, but according to the authors of Is Sex Necessary?, unwillingness to commit is nothing new. The pair cheekily remark:

In order to contemplate marriage, it was necessary for a man to decide on One Particular Woman. This he found next to impossible, for the reason that he has unconsciously set up so many mental barriers and hazards.

 Such barriers include a refusal to date a potential SO who regularly commits heinous grammar crimes, a conviction that there’s always something better around the corner and the wayward notion that women are mystical beings rather than humans.

But #NotAllMen are scumbags.

Although Thurber and White might as well be telling female readers to abandon all hope and take up spinsterhood (heaven forbid!), they assert that men, too, can be feminists.

"Isn't that just like a man?" is an all-too-glib and common expression. It implies that one can virtually ascribe to all men the simple reactions which, in a number of men, inexpertly observed, have proved likely to take place. (The italics are mine.)

 Self-deprecating but still asserting the value of their own emotional lives, the authors imply that our tendency to idealize the inner lives of women, ignoring the inner lives of men, contributes to the problem of female fetishization. 

Sex isn't everything.

A few studies published this year showed that Millenials have fewer sexual partners than people in earlier generations -- and might even be happier for it. And, those who are coupled up are slightly happier and more desirous of each other when they have sex less frequently. That said, libido is a spectrum, and no two people are the same, as White and Thurber wryly wrote in 1929.

Sex is by no means everything. It varies, as a matter of fact, from only as high as 78 percent of everything to as low as 3.10 percent. The norm, in any sane, healthy person, should be between 18 and 24 percent. In these hectic days, however, it is not unusual to hear even intelligent persons say, or imply, that sex is everything. 

They snarkily allude to the importance of similar attachment styles (the claustrophobia-prone and the stage-five clingers), exaggerating and therefore ridiculing the gender stereotypes we assign to them. In other words, if you need a lot of space, you should find a partner who does, too. 

Marriage is a weird institution.

The authors frame marriage as a viable option for many couples that should be thought of as functional rather than dream-fulfilling. They joke:

Marriage, as an instrument, is a well-nigh perfect thing. The trouble is that it cannot be successfully applied to the present-day emotional relationships of men and women. It could much more easily be applied to something else, probably professional tennis.

So it may be better to just focus on your career for a while.

People are getting married later than ever, especially in states with big cities. Overall, this could be good thing -- statistically speaking, people who get married between the ages of 25 and 32 tend to stay married longer. New Yorkers get married later than residents of any other state, if at all. City-dwellers are much more likely to enjoy attachment-free sex, so as to funnel their energies into a successful work life, a trend White and Thurber good-humoredly acknowledge.

New York became the capital of the sexual revolution. It was conveniently located, had a magnificent harbor, a high mortality rate, and some of the queerest-shaped apartments to be found anywhere. There are apartments in New York in which one must step across an open bathtub in going from the kitchen to the bedroom; any unusual layout like that arouses sexual desire and brings people pouring into New York from other cities.

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The harp dates back to as early as 3500 B.C., which makes it a sufficiently ancient kind of instrument. Emilie Kahn, however, is a contemporary singer-songwriter and harpist whose cover of Taylor Swift's "Style" is anything but traditional.

Kahn, along with her trusty harp, Ogden, make up the unconventional pair Emilie & Ogden. The partly inanimate duo are behind the strangely intoxicating performance featured above. In the video, Kahn's unearthly voice transforms Swift's catchy '80s-tinged hit into a stinging and surreal ballad.

And that plucky harp proves that -- despite the fact that it's 5,500 years old -- the ethereal music-maker never goes out of style. 

Slay, Ogden, slay! 

H/T Slate.

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You're undoubtedly familiar with the following scenario: You're sitting at brunch, or in class, or chatting with a group of randoms at a party when the conversation turns to that one movie everyone has obviously seen because, duh. "This metaphor I am trying to construct is so Rosebud," the snootiest person in that particular instance says, to which you reply: "Oh, I've never seen 'Citizen Kane.'"

Then you're spending the next 38 minutes of your life cleaning up drool after everyone's jaws hit the floor, and explaining how it could possibly be that you are a functioning adult with subpar cinema education that is somehow able to form sentences.

In solidarity with all those who have been shamed one too many times over the movies they OMG, haven't seen, HuffPost Entertainment surveyed The Huffington Post newsroom to find out which beloved films our esteemed editors have yet to see*. We then asked them to review those movies without seeing them, based solely on general knowledge and what they've heard about them over the years.

The following reviews are probably better than some (all) of these movie plots:

"Titanic"

Rich girl meets poor boy. They fall in love and things get sexy. He's the king of the world! The ship sinks! They make it to a floating piece of wood. There's definitely enough room for both of them on it, but she takes up the whole thing and he dies. Rude. A billion years later she's old and has a big diamond necklace? -Alexis Kleinman

"Goonies"

There's a group of kids and one of them is fat, which people thought was funny in the '80s. Their lives are boring and they find an abandoned, scary house and run around screaming. They never say die. The fat kid grows up to be matinee idol-shaped and marries a '90s supermodel, while the rest fall prey to the ravages of time. -Meredith Melnick

"Star Wars"

Over the years, I've heard a lot about "Star Wars" and I've seen "Space Balls," though that doesn't really help me. I know "Star Wars" starts off with rolling credits that say, "In a galaxy far far away ..." There's also this guy, Han Solo (the main character) and he's a good guy. I think he fights for the universe? He loves Princess Leia. He has a gang of friends, R2D2 and Chewbacca, who speaks really funny and will say things like "me love peace Chewbacca says," or something along those lines. Hans has to fight to save someone or some people, so he takes on Darth Vader (who is a heavy breather). When they're fighting in an epic lightsaber fight, somehow they realize they're related. And that's when evil guy Darth says, "Luke, I am your father." -Carly Ledbetter

"The Princess Bride"

A lovely young woman who later becomes Jenny in "Forrest Gump" is betrothed to a giant whom she doesn't want to marry. She meets the prince she does want to marry, but then a war breaks out and the prince has to fight for her honor somehow. He wins the war and then she realizes that it was the magical giant all along. They live happily ever after. -Kate Palmer

"Avatar"

A short time ago in a galaxy next to ours lived a race of feral humanoids called Avatars. Avatars look like a gaggle of slendermen who got in a terrible accident at the factory where they make blue Sour Patch Kids, with hair that'd make Jack Sparrow smile. Through some awful luck, the atmosphere on their planet is becoming increasingly poisonous, threatening to kill off all life there. And so we watch as two particularly ambitious Avatars -- one lady, one gentleman -- spearhead the onerous effort to save their beloved, crappy home somehow using spears and bows. Will they fall in love? Probably. Will they be successful? There's a sequel coming out in a couple years, so, probably. Will they learn an important lesson on environmental conservation? Absolutely. -Sara Boboltz 

"Scarface" 

"Scarface" is a typical gangster/mob movie with Al Pacino as the kingpin (?) with a hot wife, played by Michelle Pfeiffer (in her breakout role). There's plenty of sex and drugs (cocaine, definitely) involved, paired with even more violence and blood. Oh, and Pacino has a scar on his face, or he acquires one at some point in the movie. He also says his famous, "Say hello to my little friend," line. THE END.

"Thelma and Louise"

"Frozen"

Josh Gad is a snowman or something? And there are two pretty white girls who smirk a lot. Annnnnnd one of them can freeze stuff with her hands. -Alexander Eichler

"Clueless"

Alicia Silverstone has straight blond hair, and wears mini skirts and kitten heels. This was fashionable in the 1990s, apparently. The movie is based on some Shakespeare movie and often quoted in real-life conversations, except the references are totally lost on me because I don't know anything about this movie. It is on Netflix. -Alexandra Ma

"The Exorcist"

Everything I know about "The Exorcist" I learned from watching parodies, or blatant rip-offs, of "The Exorcist." So, according to a particularly scary episode of "The Simpsons," it's about a dude who makes his head spin 360 degrees around his neck in an attempt to convince his family that he needs to take a sick day. Most of the movie is accompanied by a soundtrack that involves banging on the two highest-pitched keys of a piano over and over and over again, making you wish you could somehow cover your ears and your eyes. It's best watched during the day, or with the lights on, or, preferably, both. -Maddie Crum

"Nightcrawler"

An unassuming young man, memorably played by Jake Gyllenhaal, discovers himself slowly, inexplicably transforming into an "X-Men" mutant. The man leans into his mutation, assuming a new name (Nightcrawler!) and embarks on a double life of post-meridian vigilantism while still showing up on time for his day job as a bank teller. But his co-workers fail to accept his new identity -- particularly his blue, lizard-like skin and pointy tail -- and the Nightcrawler decides to move on. As the credits roll, he's crossing a barren landscape in search of Professor X and his cadre of super-humans. I smell sequel!!!! -Catharine Smith

"Wet Hot American Summer"

Here's what happens and how good it is: some beautiful and ageless stars who go on to be very famous (I see you, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks and Bradley Cooper) somehow come together and form the most beautiful, ageless summer camp staff ever. (But AFAIK there are no counselors from the U.K. and Australia making less-than-minimum wage to experience the U.S. and greatly increase the hotness-per-capita levels in wooded areas -- so, for me, it is not a true representation of an early-aughts summer camp staff, to be totally honest.)

Many hijinks ensue and people have told me that the story and the cinematography are not technically great, but it's also, like, great, and as someone who spent her formative years at sleepaway camp, I need to see it and I will get it and tattoo the script on my body, probably. Also, is Paul Rudd a secret model robot to make us mortal humans feel bad, or what?! Dude looks great. -Jill Capewell

"The Matrix"

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" 

The Hobbits are going to Isengard! And Mordor! Or something! From its distinctive pennywhistle-heavy soundtrack, you'd expect this film to be a fun romp through the forest, but it gets dark fast. Real fast. Before you know it, trees are talking to each other and Gandalf is trapped in a tower by the evil lords of Mordor. Frodo the Hobbit puts on a ring and journeys through the wilderness to save the whole world with his annoying friend Sam, who needs to come for inexplicable reasons. Along the way, the two meet a Dobby-like creature who enjoys potatoes and, like a slimy, hairless Gremlin, is confusingly both mean but also sometimes nice. If you're interested in a worse version of "Harry Potter," "The Fellowship of the Ring" is a coming-of-age fantasy not to be missed! -Julia Bush

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

Admittedly, I haven't seen any of the movies in the "Harry Potter" franchise. I know. What I actually do know, however, or at least think I do because one of the "Harry Potters" weasled its way into the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time list (which means it's everywhere), is that Harry Potter is a child wizard. He is raised poor and sad, like the kid from "Willy Wonka" minus the love. He has a lightning tattoo on his forehead and when he is sent to boarding school because, as mentioned, no one loves him, he discovers he can do cool magic tricks. Some words I think I picked up are Dumbldore, Mordor, Butterfinger, Muggle and Hermione. Why more than one movie was made is beyond me, but good for you, J.K. Rowling. -Liat Kornowski

"Interstellar"

Hi, my name is Lauren Duca and I never saw "Interstellar," because I generally find space movies that are not "Star Wars" to be hot garbage. Based on never seeing "Interstellar," I know that what happens is a young Anne Hathaway and regular-aged Matthew McConaughey form a father-daughter bond based on being father and daughter. Then Anne Hathaway grows up and Matthew McConaughey gets a little bit older looking, but not that much older-looking really? From there, the plot continues as follows: America. America. Space. America. The question of whether humanity will survive??? America. America. Space. America. America. And then the film ends with humanity surviving (!!!) and the continued McConaissance. -Lauren Duca

"Inception"

Oh, the craziest thing ever! In the movie "Inception," Leonardo DiCaprio's character experiences life within a dream within a dream within a dream. The film is a real thriller because every time you think the action is occurring in reality, it's actually happening in a dream! "Inception's" plot is synonymous with the word "meta." -Kate Bratskeir

"The Color Purple"

After falling asleep during the Broadway version of "The Color Purple," I still have no clue what the film is about. All I know is, it's directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Whoopi Goldberg (who won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in '86), and Oprah Winfrey. Oh, and this famous line: "YOU TOLE HARPO TO BEAT ME!?!?" -Brennan Williams

"Blue Velvet"

I guess you can't be a David Lynch fan if you haven't seen "Blue Velvet," or so many of my friends tell me. According to Netflix, the film follows a murder mystery in a small, logging town. So I imagine this to be the prequel to "Twin Peaks," in which we learn the real backstory of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. (Laura Dern, Laura Palmer. Hello?) Upon returning home to take care of his aging dad, Agent Cooper -- who, for some unknown reason, is going by the name Jeffrey -- discovers a random, severed ear, thus launching not only an obsession with law enforcement, but also a burgeoning taste for donuts. Isabella Rossellini is obviously Log Lady, who, at this stage in life, may or may not being wearing a lot of blue clothing, but is most certainly not yet infatuated with a clairvoyant log. Dennis Hopper is Killer BOB on drugs, literally. They all hang out at a nightclub. Someone lip-syncs Roy Orbison's "In Dreams." It's amazing. -Katherine Brooks

"The Terminator"

Everyone -- including me! -- has seen "T2: Judgment Day," which is maybe why I've never bothered to go back to the original. My friends say I've gotta watch it. I expect it's good, but probably a bit slower, less refined and confident than the sequel. It probably features bigger hair, too. I bet it'll still freak me out. -Damon Beres

"The Godfather"

"The Godfather" is presumably about Italian mobsters, and I'm going to guess they live in New York (or maybe Long Island) because 45 percent of all movies take place in New York (or maybe Long Island) and the other 45 percent take place in Los Angeles, and no one would ever shoot a gangster film in Los Angeles, unless you count "Pulp Fiction," which I do not. 

* Obviously, now they have to see them. Stay tuned for more!

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Lauren Hirshfield Belden, mom of two, has written a book that combines the two aspects of parenthood that some parents know very well -- breastfeeding and Dr. Seuss.

Belden's book The Places You'll Feed!, illustrated by Isabelle Angell, is a lactation-themed take on the Seuss classic Oh The Places You'll Go. The narrator speaks to new moms as they navigate the often confusing and chaotic world of breastfeeding. There's no shortage of strange scenarios and places where nursing moms may find themselves in the book -- from nursing on the go to multitasking at home to figuring out the baby's preferred position.  

"I had joked many times with friends that someone needed write about all the crazy lengths we go to in order to feed our babies," Belden told The Huffington Post. "I guess all that talk ended up on the page."

For Belden, breastfeeding was a frustrating experience as she faced obstacles like mastitis, an "unpredictable to dismal" milk supply and an infant gastrointestinal condition that completely altered how she could feed her son. "In short, breastfeeding was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done," she said.

She hopes people who read her book before having children feel better prepared for some potential challenges they might face. She also believes it can provide a little comic relief.

"For moms and dads who are in the thick of it and having trouble, I hope the book makes them feel less alone in their struggles, and helps them celebrate the hard work they’re doing to feed their babies," Belden said.

Keep scrolling for a look at The Places You'll Feed, currently for sale on Amazon.

This article is part of HuffPost Parents' World Breastfeeding Week coverage. Read more here.

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As part of your pact to be completely open and say "yes" to everything (even if it's shocking and painful), please consider attending the Wes Anderson pop-up art exhibition this weekend.

Everyone likes Wes Anderson, but you really, really like him. You've liked him since "Bottle Rocket" -- the full-length movie and the 1994 short that came before it, obviously. Anderson was finding his form then, breaking into the highly stylized world of surrealism that has morphed into his eight-film directorial canon of precisely controlled color palettes and handwritten notes. 

With "The Grand Budapest Hotel," his appeal broke out of its once-cultish appreciation. The other day you even heard your mom make appropriate use of the term "Anderson-esque" when describing a scene of endearingly polite slapstick. It's unfair. Being a fan is all about having a great thing to yourself and a few other people. 

Anyway, if you live in New York -- or more specifically, Brooklyn, like Saoirse Ronan does in this film of this same name -- you can make loving Wes Anderson feel special and niche once again. This weekend, Joseph Gross Gallery is hosting their annual "Bad Dads" show. Over 70 artists have gathered for the sixth iteration of the pop-up gallery. Stop by between August 7 and 9 to check out paintings, sculptures and, according to the website, "affordable screen prints," which you can buy as a token of your personal stake in pre-mainstream Anderson fandom. 

See a preview of the show below:

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Sometimes, the titles of famous paintings are hilariously underwhelming.

We refer to Rembrandt's memorable portrait of his son as "Titus van Rijn in a Monk's Habit" (or "Titus as a Monk") because, well, that's exactly what it is. Then there's Sandro Botticelli's "Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder," which is, yeah, pretty on point. But pretty tedious too.

Enter Matthew Britton, who's taken it upon himself to replace the dull and unvaried titles of famous paintings with the Internet-savvy headlines of BuzzFeed and other online media outlets. Think "23 Secrets A Man With A Quilted Sleeve Won't Tell You." Clicked on it. Or "Do You Want A Picture Of Two Girls Dressing A Kitten By Candlelight To Make Your Day Better?" Yes, please.

"Old Masters BuzzFeed was inspired by the underwhelming titles given to famous works of art," Britton explained in an email to The Huffington Post. "I wondered how these titles would have to be updated to survive in the current clickbait climate. I thought by amalgamating these titles with pre-existing BuzzFeed headlines, I would question the ephemeral nature of content these days."

Britton is an self-described Internet artist ("and/or an artist [who] is inspired by Internet culture") whose past online projects have appropriated out-of-office emails as art and brought together anonymous users in a giant collaborative painting endeavor. This time around, he's resurfacing artworks made before the 1800s -- many of which likely went untitled from the start -- and tacking on enticing headlines that appeal to today's generation of Tumblr users.

"The capabilities for news outlets to emphasize certain information over others makes them the controller of the canon of art of tomorrow," Britton added.

Of course, he has a sense of humor about the inspiration behind art history memes. "It just seemed like a funny thing to do," he concluded.

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HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) -- The crumbling brick and concrete walls of the Atomic Bomb Dome, as it is known today, rise above the Motoyasu River. The bomb so devastated Hiroshima that there are few other reminders of the city that was here seven decades ago.

"I didn't want to see this place for a long time," said Kimie Mihara, a fragile but straight-backed 89-year-old. She walked slowly around the fenced-off ruin, now roofless save for the dome's skeleton.

On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, this building was her office. She was running late to work. That's the only reason she's still alive.

"When this was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site, I thought of coming here. But I still didn't want to see this place," she said.

Rebun Kayo, on the other hand, has made it his life's work to come back, again and again. At the crack of dawn recently, some curious joggers stopped to watch the 38-year-old Hiroshima University graduate student wading in the shallow waters in front of the dome at low tide, under a still-dark sky.

He hunched over to feel the riverbed for blasted remnants of the dome still submerged. In this city where physical history has been almost fully erased, he is determined to save those that are left, even those small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

The dome building is literally a shell of what it once was, empty save for some stray cats lounging on a broken windowsill.

Debris from the wall and roof, some pieces more than a meter (3 feet) long, remain scattered on the floor, visible through holes in the walls and empty window frames.

Built in 1915, it was a rare example of Western architecture in Hiroshima at the time. Czech architect Jan Letzel designed it to be a city landmark and an exhibition hall for industrial and cultural promotion.

The three-story building was just 160 meters (525 feet) from the epicenter of the blast, yet was the only thing left standing in the area. It was one of the few structures built of brick, stone and steel in what was essentially a wooden city. Most buildings were flattened and burned by the bomb, which turned the seaport into a wasteland and killed an estimated 140,000 people, including those who died from their injuries or radiation exposure though the end of 1945.

About 30 workers were believed to be in the dome building, which had been converted to accommodate mostly government offices as the war intensified. All likely perished, though some remains have never been recovered.

Today, though the building is too hazardous to be open to the public, it is still a focal point of Peace Memorial Park, and a must-see for many of the more than 11 million tourists Hiroshima receives annually, about 650,000 of whom come from outside Japan.

Mihara was 19, and had been working in the dome building for about two months. An interior ministry worker, she excelled at using the abacus and was helping in the accounting department. She recalls how busy her days were. Her office was on the ground floor, facing the river, but she hardly had time to enjoy the view right outside her window.

She was due in the office at 8 a.m. The U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the bomb at 8:15. She said she had been unusually tired that morning, and did not feel like going to work.

"I survived as I was late," she said. "So, yes, I know and feel lucky that I wasn't here at that time. But, thinking about those who were killed just because they were good and punctual, I am just so sorry and feel so bad for them."

She remembers little about her co-workers, who were mostly men. The trauma of the bombing eclipses any memories she might have had of the weeks before it.

Although she escaped death, her face, arms and legs were burned; some scars are still visible. Her house burned down, she was bedridden for three months and she lost her father, who was believed to be at his office close to the epicenter.

Losing so much, the remaining family members left Hiroshima to rebuild their lives. Mihara met her husband in Kyushu, the island south of Hiroshima, and they had three children.

While many atomic bomb survivors, particularly women, found it difficult to marry because of fears their children would have birth defects, Mihara says her husband was so smitten with her that his mother didn't object. He died relatively young, however, and Mihara returned to Hiroshima, where she worked in a trading company to support her family until retirement.

In its postwar rebuilding, Hiroshima decided to conserve the dome as it was in 1961, leaving it as an icon of devastation in a city where such scars were quickly becoming invisible. The building was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996 to call for a non-nuclear world and world peace.

For most of the past 70 years, Mihara said little about her time at the dome. But as others of her generation passed away, she began to wonder whether it was her duty to speak - even whether that was the reason fate spared her. Now she shares her experiences more.

"I could have died in the bombing, but I am so blessed having survived to live such a happy life," she said on a cloudy July afternoon.

She stopped at an inconspicuous memorial, mounted on the corner of the fence surrounding the dome, and kneeled to pray.

Kayo first visited Hiroshima on a school trip when he was 14. He listened to a survivor who told her story on the riverbank; he was struck by the scars on her neck and hands.

About a decade ago, he learned that debris from the dome could still be found in the river. He began searching for it, in part to keep the memory of the event from fading away.

"What I am afraid of is that it started to feel like something further from reality," he said. "But here in front of the dome, everything is conserved as it was, and we can still find these relics from that time. In this way, I am trying to bring back the past to the present."

He has retrieved shattered bricks and stones of various sizes. On many, the L-shaped motif that decorated the building is still visible, though much faded.

A few pieces are as big as a meter (3 feet) long, and had to be pulled out with a machine. Most are much smaller. Shells have attached to them after decades in the river.

Kayo has been allowed inside the normally off-limits building to compare its material and structure with the debris he has found. So far he's found about 1,000 bits of rubble that match.

There is no known research on how the debris ended up in the river, Kayo said. He suspects some of it was thrown into the river when people were trying to rebuild the city after the bombing, but he doesn't rule out the possibility that some was blown into the river by the blast.

He has sent pieces to more than 50 universities and institutions across the world as tangible evidence of the destruction. Though some declined the gift, about 20 accepted, including Stanford University and Cambridge. At Hiroshima University on Thursday, the 70th anniversary of the bombing, a representative of the Czech Republic, the architect's homeland, will accept the largest fragment Kayo has recovered so far.

Kayo's university also displays some of the debris at a small museum on campus. He has set up a nongovernmental organization and now has a few younger students helping him with the work. He's also studying anatomy as a Ph.D. candidate, to be prepared in case he finds the remains of A-bomb victims in the riverbed.

Each time Kayo looks for more pieces of the building, he bows to the river before he steps in.

"To me, the dome is a graveyard for those killed in Hiroshima, for those killed inside the dome, died nearby, died drowning in the river, those died at the field hospitals," he said. "The place is a graveyard for all of them."

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Twitter trolling. Interoffice email. Netflix binges. Spreadsheet drudgery. 

Not everyone in the U.S. works in front of a glowing monitor, and not everyone is addicted to TV and digitized distractions. But the use of computers both at home and at work seems only to be rising.

A 2013 study suggested that American adults are rapidly expanding their online time; the average time spent on the web was just three hours and 14 minutes a day in 2010, but by 2013 it had risen nearly two full hours, to five hours and nine minutes. While time spent reading print and listening to the radio was shown to be falling slightly over these three years, TV time remained steady at around four and a half hours a day. Overall, even the non-office workers who aren't in front of computers all day could be spending around a full work day's worth of time in front of a screen each day.

Print -- a notable loser in the survey, clocking barely 30 minutes in an average day -- might be a dinosaur in the era of cheap e-readers and tablets. On the other hand, all this screen time isn't an unalloyed good. Reading your books on paper instead of a Kindle can be a great way to disconnect and reset. Here are seven reasons to do your reading on paper whenever possible -- and save your screens for when it really counts.

Give your eyes a break from screens!

Not to sound alarmist, but staring at computer screens for hours at a time isn’t exactly the kindest thing to do to your eyes, and many of us already do it all day at work. It’s a bit dramatic to suggest we’re ruining our eyes doing this -- we’re probably not -- but we are making our eyes work extra hard to stare at the glaring surface. The constant strain can lead to computer vision syndrome (CVS), which might leave you with headaches, burning eyes or blurred vision. 

So unwinding with a “Law & Order” marathon or catching up on your favorite blogs might seem like just the indulgence you need and deserve, but it’s not giving your eyes the TLC they need. If your eyes aren’t too tired or blurry to keep open, soothe them with a couple hours staring at the restful off-whites and blacks of a real book’s pages. No flickering, no glare reflecting off the screen, just old-fashioned ink on paper. Ahhhhh.

Exercise your arms by holding a real book over your head!

It can be inconvenient to lug a book, especially a hardcover or over-400-page book, around town. It can be even more annoying to relax in bed with such books, pages flapping as you struggle to prevent the weight of Infinite Jest from crashing into your nose with only the fragile scaffolding of your pencil-thin arms. Sometimes a Kindle is just more convenient. Safer even.

But other times, don’t you want to challenge yourself? Don’t you want to strengthen your mind and your arms simultaneously, all while lying in your comfortable bed on a Sunday morning? Plus, feeling the sheer weight of the book you’re reading keeps you in touch with what you’re taking in -- not just another Internet article like this one, but a hefty work of literature, something with so many pages it’s actually hard to lift. That’s kind of crazy, in a cool way.

Close off distractions and concentrate completely!

If you grew up without constant access to a cell phone or the Internet, only to later acquire them, think back on those pre-connected days. They weren’t perfect, and maybe you watched a lot of Nickelodeon marathons, but without the ever-present temptation of just checking email or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram one more time, you were probably able to get through activities without interruption a lot more frequently. Even voracious readers have admitted that the advent of smartphones and WiFi has chipped away at their concentration, that the ding of an incoming email or the temptation of checking the likes on their latest photo makes it hard to immerse themselves in a book, and studies have backed this up.

Picking up a paperback doesn’t exactly reverse the sands of time, but reading in a device-free environment might help. Clear the area of tablets, smartphones, smart watches, smart TVs, laptops, and, yes, desktops. Turn off pesky notifications so you won’t hear them from the next room and find yourself wondering. Then, and only then, open a book and pretend your social media accounts don’t even exist for a few hours. Without interrupting yourself to tweet (#amreading) every few minutes, you’ll be surprised at how deeply you can throw yourself in something as analog as a book.

Strengthen your reading comprehension, maybe!

This possible effect, if real, may be related to print text's lack of extraneous distractions. The science on the matter is preliminary and mixed, but there is some evidence that reading in print rather than on a screen promotes better comprehension and retention of the material. One study suggested that readers may skip over or skim the text in favor of distracting digital enhancements, like animated graphics. Another noted that readers using screens struggled more to recall the sequencing of events, leading the researchers to posit that the lack of physical markers, such as the location on a page of a certain sentence, made it more difficult to keep track of the narrative.

It's too early to be sure why e-readers aren't quite keeping pace, or if the gap is being accurately measured, but it's worth giving an old-fashioned book a try, just in case the newfangled contraption is slightly muddling your comprehension. Perhaps not a big deal for a breezy beach read, but if you're hoping to take something substantial away from a book, it may be worth picking it up instead of downloading it.

Feel a connection to the earth!

E-readers have the aura of an environmentally conscious alternative to tree-killing paper books, but the reality is a bit more complicated. Each e-reader’s production consumes enormous amounts of water, minerals and fossil fuel, not to mention the energy needed to keep the e-reader charged. And while paper books do consume other resources, like tree pulp, it’s not entirely clear which has the more damaging environmental impact.

Paper production can be incredibly damaging, clear-cutting forests for quick lumber grabs, but trees are a renewable resource we can foster and use thoughtfully. Future Library, a project by artist Katie Paterson, emphasizes this loving relationship by planting and marking out 1,000 trees in Norway to cut down and use to print 100 new literary works in 100 years. The project “involves ecology, the interconnectedness of things,” Paterson told HuffPost.

There is one beautiful thing about the connection a paper book has to the environment: you can see and feel the material the earth gave to make it. A downloaded story feels like it lives in the ether; it seems almost cost-free. When you hold a book in your hands, you can feel the slight roughness of the wood pulp from a tree that gave its life for this text, a potent reminder, if you’re paying attention, of how precious each book is and how interwoven our world is.

Enjoy the beauty of the book’s full design!

If you feel this way about books, you probably already read the print variety, but for the record: Books are beautiful. At least a lot of them are. The cover art, the font, the page numbers -- every aspect of the book’s physical design has typically been carefully crafted to form a harmonious whole with the text. Writer Adrienne Raphel admitted this week on The Paris Review Daily, “I’m a stickler for fonts when I read; it’s one of the reasons I lug around paper books instead of a Kindle.”

E-readers, at least as of now, aren’t optimized for book design enjoyment. On the Kindle, you can typically choose from several fonts, include the in-house Bookerly. The perfectly selected typography, the elegant cover on view every time you flip the book shut, the pleasant texture of the pages, the whiff of bookstore scent -- reading on a screen encompasses none of these experiences. Don’t miss out.

At the very least, when you go back to your laptops and Nooks, you’ll appreciate the bluish glow and Internet access so much more.

And you: How do you like to read? Analog? Digital? A healthy mix of both?

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Even from thousands of feet in the air, income inequality is easy to see. 

Photographer Jeffrey Milstein captured aerial snapshots of Los Angeles neighborhoods, and the differences are striking. He took photos of Beverly Hills streets, a Marina del Rey pier and a trailer park in LA.

"There are sort of two extremes in how we end up living based on our affluence," Milstein, who took the photos while dangling 2,000 feet in the air from a helicopter, told Co.Exist. "It's very readily apparent from the air, because you suddenly are seeing the differences in the patterns."

Spacing, road curvature and even color patterns are dissimilar, Milstein explained in an email to The Huffington Post Monday.  

First is the size of the lots for single family homes. They are much more tightly packed in the lower economic housing. Fewer trees, few pools or tennis courts. The streets are generally on a rigid rectangular grid. As affluence increases there is more green and blue as the pools and tennis courts begin to appear. The roads begin to break from the grid with some curves, often leading up hills affording views. This continues until in the most affluent areas a large percent have a pool and a tennis court, often close to a neighbor across a hedge. Something I first noticed after reviewing the images was how the level of affluence can affect the overall color balance of the image.

The wealthier areas are dotted with green and blue from trees and swimming pools, while lower income areas appear more brown with housing allotted along straight gridlines.  

Milstein highlighted the contrasts by photographing neighborhoods on varying levels of the socioeconomic spectrum.

"It is just a visual representation of what everyone already knows regarding class and wealth and housing," he wrote. "On one extreme is the trailer park with a shared pool and tennis court, and on the other side, unbelievable mansions dot the hillsides, each with pools and tennis courts repeated for each family. It's the American dream. For a few." 

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Harvard University scientists have discovered a new world of mystery and complexity at the micro level of the brain. 

A new study authored by molecular biologist Dr. Jeff Lichtman and his colleagues and published last week in the journal Cell offers a glimpse inside the neurons of a mouse's brain in unprecedented detail.

Lichtman told The Huffington Post that 20 scientists worked on the six-year project, with the aim of developing high-resolution images of the animal's brain in an effort to better understand this complex organ.

The scientists developed technologies that created digital models of the actual brain tissue of mice, allowing researchers to examine its detailed structural organization.

In a series of 3D graphic images, the researchers were able to reconstruct components of an adult mouse's brain at nanoscale resolution. They focused specifically on the brain's neocortex, the outermost layer, which makes up roughly three-quarters of the brain's volume.  The neocortex comprises gray matter, the tissue made up of neurons that acts as an information-processing center.

"The goal of this study was to help us fathom this most mysterious part of biology," Lichtman said in a Harvard video about the research. "Our goal in this case was to do that by looking at brains and describing them at very high resolutions."   

Using the new imaging technique, the researchers collected tens of thousands of ultra-thin brain sections -- each one-thousandth the thickness of a single strand of hair -- on a single film strip. They were able to create images of these sections at high resolution by using new software tools to color the neural connections. 

Scroll down for more high-resolution images of a mouse brain in technicolor detail:

The image above depicts a brain cell, also known as a neuron, which is designed to carry electrochemical messages through the nervous system. (Click here for a diagram and detailed breakdown.) You can see axons, or nerve fibers (pictured in blue, purple and green), which bundle together at junctions called synapses -- the bridges between neurons that allow the cells to communicate with one another. 

The axons are attached to the dendrite (pictured in red), a branch-like extension of a neuron, which receives electrical impulses from other cells and communicates them to the neuron. These electrical impulses are how the brain registers external things like sunlight or cold, as well as internal messages from other parts of the body.

In this close-up image you can see a high-resolution view of the synapses (which, again, are the connectors responsible for communication between neurons) running along the branch of a dendrite. Those little white dots inside the axons are synaptic vesicles, and they are responsible for storing the neurotransmitters that are released at the synapse. These neurotransmitters carry information throughout the brain and the body, and can affect things like mood and sleep. 

This reconstruction of one brain section shows large dendrites (pictured above and below in red) surrounded by other parts of the neuron.

The image above shows a batch of neurons extending long dendrite branches. 

All images by D.R. Berger, N. Kasthuri, & JW Lichtman, Harvard University. 

Watch the video below for an explanation of the paper from its authors: 

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To some, contemporary art may seem like an afterthought to politics and economics -- something to tack on once ideological kinks have been worked out in modernized cities. But sometimes the process goes the other way, and art actually enables dialogue and social betterment.

Such is the case with Israel’s first Arab modern art museum, which opened last month in Sakhnin, a small, predominantly Muslim city far from the traditional art hotspots of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The Arab Museum of Contemporary Art and Heritage (AMOCAH), is the brainchild of Belu-Simion Fainaru and Avital Bar-Shay, two Israeli artists who had the idea while curating the Mediterranean Biennale. Not satisfied with the biennial model of featuring new artwork just every two years, they dreamed of a more consistent home for modern and contemporary Arab art.

It took them three years to turn that abstract idea into a physical museum. Three years of mediating local disputes, international politics and complex cultural differences. Many of those challenges -- as well as the rewards -- originated in the location they selected.

Sakhnin, located in the Galilee region, is quite a distance from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which traditionally house modern art museums and galleries. Convincing Sakhnin residents of the importance of the museum was challenging, as the inherent value of contemporary art was not necessarily a given there. “It sounds simple, it sounds more obvious, when I say that art is a part of life,” Fainaru told The Huffington Post. “In such a place it’s not that clear.”

In Sakhnin, art could come into conflict with plenty of personal values and ideologies. For instance, one artist to be featured had initially painted a series of portraits but later decided that the effigies conflicted with his religious beliefs. He now only paints landscapes.

Opening the museum in this location was important though. Art scenes in Tel Aviv tends to focus on international hot shots rather than locals, Fainaru explained, showcasing much of the same material that could be seen in New York City -- rather than what is specific to Israeli or Arab culture.

AMOCAH wants to change that. And Sakhnin’s mixed religious demographics make the museum’s goals of education and artistic awareness particularly significant. Furthermore, Fainaru and Bar-Shay are aware of the fact that contemporary art is generally out of reach for locals, who must travel long distances to see it. Economics play an important role too.

“Everything will be free for people to want to have contact with contemporary art,” Fainaru said. Support for that promise comes from a variety of sources: the local city hall as well as financial aid from organizations in European countries like France, Austria and Germany. Due to the “technical problems” and budget cuts, Fainaru explained, they receive no funding from the Ministry of Culture in Israel.

The museum’s opening exhibit directly addresses its community-oriented role. Titled "HIWAR," the word translates roughly into English as “dialogue,” but more precisely denotes a conversation between two plus people or parties working together toward a positive resolution without animosity.

Though some museums shy away from the politics of art, hoping to keep them in separate realms, AMOCAH does no such thing. ”Opening the museum in the city is political,” Fainaru said. “Opening the museum with an exhibition with a name like dialogue [...] it’s also a political statement.”

Depending on the source, coverage has focused on the cultural and economic opportunity the museum provides for Israel -- or on the political hope for religious dialogue in the broader Middle East. Fainaru, though, highlighted the local context: the small scuffles that arose and the resolutions subsequently reached among Sakhnin residents, the way the museum has brought new visitors and engendered new infrastructures to support those visitors.

Before AMOCAH opened, for instance, Sakhnin lacked street names and house numbers. But the arrival of museum visitors pushed the mayor to develop an address system and to install signs to that effect -- in both Arabic and Hebrew.

“I hope maybe in the near future it will be maybe in English,” said Fainaru. “Through contemporary art we changed the city."

All images courtesy of AMOCAH.

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An old acronym is everywhere, Tom Cruise-like, full of mysterious renewed vigor. 

Exhibits B, pulled from Twitter jn (just now):

New American words, science says, are usually thefted from Black Twitter. In this case, Twitter is a seat of the resurgence. Exhibit 2A:

What is the Internet but an exercise in obsessing over the right now? The right now is what matters, until the day we ditch it for the new right now. In this case, the right now is actually "rn" ("right now"). This is the apotheosis of Internet trends.

RIP in advance to a good acronym who only tried to please us. 

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A toy company hopes the legacy of Cecil the lion will live on in a might way -- through a plushy animal that's raising donations.

Toy manufacturer Ty has created a Cecil the Lion Beanie Baby to honor the late lion and raise funds for wildlife conservation, with all profits from the toys’ sales going to the organization WildCRU, according to a press release.

"Hopefully, this special Beanie Baby will raise awareness for animal conservation and give comfort to all saddened by the loss of Cecil," said Ty Warner, the company’s founder and chairman.

The Cecil Beanie Baby will retail for $5.99, according to the Chicago Tribune, and 100 percent of sales will be donated to WildCRU -- a wildlife conservation and research organization at the University of Oxford, in England.

The toy’s production joins a number of other initiatives around the globe in response to the great lion’s killing by American dentist Walter Palmer in July. Four Democratic senators on July 31 introduced the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act, which would further restrict the import of sport hunting trophies.

On Saturday, the Empire State Building projected images and videos of 160 threatened species -- Cecil among them -- in a project organized by documentary filmmakers and the Oceanic Preservation Society.

And on Monday, Delta airlines announced it would ban the shipment of all rare African animals worldwide as freight.

The toy will be available at the end of September.

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