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This Pregnant Ballerina Is A Stunning Sight To See

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With a single video, a pregnant ballerina has turned her way into the hearts of thousands of Instagram users.


Ashley Bouder, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, posted a video on Instagram on Feb. 5 showing her practicing fouetté turns.


"Still spinning away in ballet class," she captioned the video along with the hashtags #bouderbump and #sixandahalfmonthspregnant.




Since she posted the video, Bouder had racked up more than 28,000 likes as of Wednesday morning. 


Keep on turning, Ashley. 


H/T PopSugar


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A Museum Recreated Van Gogh's Bedroom And Now You Can Rent It On Airbnb

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Looking for an Airbnb to rent in the Chicago area? Great. Ignore all those spacious one-bedrooms on the shores of Lake Michigan and head straight for this beauty: a full-size recreation of Vincent van Gogh’s painting "The Bedroom."


Yes, that's right. You can live out your art history dreams and fall asleep atop van Gogh's golden bed frame, set against iconic powder blue walls. The lonely towel, the wobbly chairs, the vaguely green-streaked wood floors -- it's all there! And we have the Art Institute of Chicago to thank for what is undoubtedly one of the most highbrow Airbnb rentals out there.



The very real listing -- I cannot emphasize this enough, YOU CAN STAY IN VAN GOGH'S ROOM -- is meant to stir up excitement for the museum's exhibition “Van Gogh’s Bedrooms,” which showcases three paintings of domestic spaces completed by van Gogh between 1888 and 1889. It'll be the first time the trio of paintings have appeared together in North America. The museum gives a tease of the show on its website:



Van Gogh painted his first Bedroom just after moving into his beloved “Yellow House” in Arles, France, in 1888. He was so enamored with the work, now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, that after water damage threatened its stability, he became determined to preserve the composition by painting a second version while at an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889. Identical in scale and yet distinct from the original, that second work is now one of the icons of the Art Institute’s permanent collection. Van Gogh created a smaller third version, now at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, as a gift for his mother and sister a few weeks after making the second. While the three paintings at first appear almost identical, when examined closely, each reveals distinct and unique details.



The Airbnb bedroom is mean to mimic the piece of van Gogh’s Yellow House we're most familiar with. It's located in a larger apartment on the museum's campus in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. The host is listed on the website as Vincent, which is adorable. "I'm charging $10 for no other reason than that I need to buy paint," the listing reads. "However, I will be happy to provide you with tickets to my exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago."


A one-night stay (it accommodates two people) will only cost you $14 total, so expect the dates to fill up fast. 


And don't forget to stop by "Van Gogh's Bedrooms" and see the entire collection of 36 works on view until May 10, 2016. Bonus: here are some of van Gogh's best self-portraits to get you in the mood.


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The Song Titles Off Gwen Stefani's New Album Read Like Her Diary

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We're going to give it to you straight. 


Maybe it's her relationship with fellow "Voice" judge Blake Shelton or their stunt queen-levels of PDA, but we've lost a little faith in Gwen Stefani. Where is the punk-pop goddess we fell in love with?


The one thing that's always kept us rooting for Stefani's success, however, is her immense talent as a performer and songwriter. "Used to Love You," a heartbreaking ballad inspired by the collapse of her marriage to Gavin Rossdale, was a major bright spot in her roller coaster of a year. 


Thankfully, Stefani has assuaged our concerns by releasing the full track list for her upcoming album "This Is What the Truth Feels Like..." on Twitter Tuesday night. And by the looks of it, the "No Doubt" singer is baring her soul. 



This Is What the Truth Feels Like...

A photo posted by Gwen Stefani (@gwenstefani) on




One cannot read track titles like "Misery," "Red Flag" and "Me Without You" without thinking of the cheating rumors surrounding Stefani and Rossdale's breakup and her new romance with Shelton. 


"I would consider [the new album] a breakup record," Stefani revealed in a radio interview with San Diego's 93.3 last year, adding, "It just makes me believe in God and my journey. My cross to bear was to go through these heartbreaks and write these songs and help people."


People magazine revealed the cover art for her new album, which will be released March 18. 



EXCLUSIVE: Check out @gwenstefani's album cover for #ThisIsWhatTheTruthFeelsLike, out March 18 | : Target

A photo posted by People Magazine (@peoplemag) on




And in other good news, Stefani's live music video for "Make Me Like You" will debut at the Grammy Awards on Monday. 




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You've Never Seen These Black History Photos Before

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The New York Times is diving into its photo archive this month in search of "unpublished black history." The archive, known as the Morgue, is a library of photographs and negatives that lives in a subbasement. It’s an unassuming place of whitewashed walls and fluorescent lights. It smells like photo chemicals, sweet and pungent. File cabinets and file boxes sit shoulder to shoulder. But jammed into those file drawers are folders full of history. Among the Morgue's hidden treasures: thousands of envelopes of negatives, most of which were never published. We sat down with Darcy Eveleigh, the Times photo editor who uncovered the pictures the newspaper recently published for the first time, and Rachel Swarns, a reporter who dug up some of the stories behind the images. 


This interview originally appeared in Huffington Post's Must Reads newsletter. If you'd like to receive the newsletter, please sign up.

Where did the idea for this project come from?

Darcy Eveleigh: There’s a senior editor here at The Times named Dana Canedy. She knew of my interest in the Morgue, and she approached me to see if I thought something could be done for Black History Month. "Of course," I said. 



This is such a huge undertaking. Where did you begin?

Eveleigh: I made a list. I picked 10 icons of black history. Of course No. 1 on that list was Martin Luther King. I went to his folders and I found a photo of him that I am pretty certain is the most published image of him in The New York Times, at least as indicated on the back of the picture, which had dozens of stamped publish marks.


I’d always thought it was a portrait sitting, but in looking at the negatives, I discovered it wasn’t. It was actually taken at a roundtable at NBC with other black leaders on location. From that first picture, I thought, "Let’s go through and see what else is hidden."



So what else did you find?

Rachel Swarns: You've got these amazing images. But there were these stories behind the images that were not the ones we assumed we might tell. For example, we had this photo of Lena Horne. We had run a close-up of her in an article about a new TV show she was in, but we had a larger photo of her in her apartment that had never run. And in reading the story that ran, in passing, it said it had been hard for her to find an apartment. And I thought, "It was hard for Lena Horne to find an apartment. Why?" That set me off doing research about her past, and the story that emerged was about how Lena Horne, as a black woman, even famous, had a hard time to find someone to rent or sell her an apartment. I don’t think any of us imagined that was the story that would come from the photograph.



How have readers responded?

Swarns: We’ve been getting responses from hundreds of people. People are connecting in interesting ways. "Oh, I remember that parade," they might say, or "I lived near there, where Jesse Jackson came out to protest." We have a photo of Jackie Robinson speaking at City College in New York in 1949. We asked readers to see if they were there in the classroom with him. The responses are still coming in. We are unveiling these photos and we are telling these stories but we hope our readers will play in an important part in continuing this conversation.


The Times is at a place now where we are really trying to engage our readers in a broader conversation about race.



What’s been most challenging?

Eveleigh: I am a picture editor. For me the pictures have to be beautiful. Sometimes you can find moments and events, but you have to ask, "Is this worthy of this project?" My first concern is it has to be so riveting to look at that it will hold a reader’s attention. That’s hard. I ask myself, "Do we have the right balance? The right mix of subjects, heavy and light and newsworthy and fun?" Finding that is also a challenge.



We wonder what it will be like for photo editors of the future who, looking back on our era, will have to sift through thousands of Instagram feeds or unedited digital photo databases. What do you think it will be like for them?

Eveleigh: Right now I live in the golden age of photo editing. I have an untapped print and negative collection, and I have the digital collection. I have the best of both worlds. In 50 years will these hard copy collections be digitized and tossed away? How easy will it be to sift through a digital collection? I have to consider myself so fortunate that I have both collections to work with at this point in my career.


Disclosure: Samantha Storey used to work at The New York Times. This interview was edited and condensed.


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This Simple Trick Will Unleash Your Creative Genius

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We tend to think of dreaming as an activity reserved for sleeping hours. But as it turns out, this is far from the case. 


Dream psychologists have long associated nighttime dreams with certain symbolic meanings that can unleash all sorts of clues about what's going on in our psyches while we sleep. And we even know that asking your brain for an answer before you fall asleep has been shown to increase the potential for problem-solving dreams overnight. 


More recent research has uncovered the brain network responsible for a whole new type of "dreaming" -- the kind that happens by daylight, while you're still awake. 


In our fourth episode of Next Level Living, a 10-part HuffPost Originals video series on the science behind our everyday habits, we explain how to tap into your brain's "imagination network" by day so you can better solve problems, imagine solutions and potentially even become a creative genius. 


Check out the Next Level Living episode above to learn how to make dreaming work for you. 


View previous episodes of Next Level Living.


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College Student Wants People To Eat Chik-Fil-A And Ketchup Off Her Body

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Chew on this: A performance artist and college student at Texas State University has just done a piece where she covered her body with Chik-Fil-A and ketchup.


Then Monika Rostvold asked people to eat the food off her body.


 

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Aaron Sorkin To Make 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Into A Broadway Play

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Harper Lee's beloved classic To Kill a Mockingbird will be coming to Broadway for the 2017-2018 season, in a new adaptation penned by screenwriter and patter aficionado Aaron Sorkin.


The play will be produced by Scott Rudin, with whom Sorkin has worked on "Steve Jobs" and "The Social Network," and directed by accomplished Broadway musical director Bartlett Sher, according to Variety.


Sorkin's won't be the first stage play of Mockingbird, though Lee has famously been resistant to allowing her literary masterpiece to be adapted and spun off. Referencing the film starring Gregory Peck, which she greatly admired, Lee told journalist Michael Freedland in 1978: "I’ve had many, many offers to turn it into musicals, into TV or stage plays, but I’ve always refused."


In 1990, however, a stage adaptation by Christopher Sergel debuted in Monroeville, where it's performed each May by local actors. The performances take an almost reverential approach, with audiences taking part in order to ritually enact scenes of segregation and justice denied.


After the bombshell publication of Lee's second book, Go Set a Watchman, last summer, which redrew the idealistic legal hero Atticus Finch as a stodgily bigoted functionary, audiences' wholehearted faith in what To Kill a Mockingbird represents may be shaken. If Atticus attended Ku Klux Klan meetings and harbored racist beliefs, should we reading Mockingbird with the same uncynical reverence? 





There's no better time, in that case, for quippy Sorkin, with his penchant for big ideas and bigger ideals, to swoop in and shake up the whole franchise. Vanity Fair's Katey Rich speculates that the man who created the most comforting fictional president ever, Jed Bartlett, might be just the one to rehabilitate Atticus as a "brilliant, paternal" figure taking the courtroom by rhetorical storm.


Given how that's gone in his more recent shows, however -- see McAvoy, Will ("The Newsroom") -- Sorkin could easily push Atticus further into the stubborn, hubristic elder mold.


At least we'll get some good Atticus and Scout walk-and-talks out of it.





 


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Russell Tovey Apologizes After Sight Of His Bare Chest Is Blamed For Making Male Fan Faint

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Russell Tovey isn't shy about showing off his hunky bod. Just look at his stint on HBO's "Looking" to his current role in Broadway's "A View From the Bridge" for proof. 


So when a New York theatergoer fainted at a Jan. 30 performance of "A View from the Bridge" during a scene in which Tovey appeared shirtless, the 34-year-old actor's chiseled torso was deemed responsible by The New York Post


While there's no way to know why the patron, identified as Pennsylvania resident Davin Cutchall, actually fainted, the incident quickly made headlines in Out magazine and other gay media outlets. And Tovey, who has also been known to bare plenty of skin on his Instagram, cheekily expressed his own regrets. Or, rather, he did so on behalf of his torso.  




“On behalf of my arms and nipples, I feel the need to publicly apologize for the effects felt by one of our audience members on a dark winter night in New York City,” he told Heat magazine


There's still time to catch Tovey's pecs for yourselves, but you'll have to do it soon. Ivo van Hove's production of Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," which also stars Mark Strong and Nicola Walker, runs at New York's Lyceum Theatre through Feb. 21. 


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Year Of The Monkey Poster Is This Year's Nastiest Design Fail (NSFW)

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He may never get this monkey off his back.


San Francisco designer Lehu Zhang made a poster to honor the Chinese zodiac's Year of the Monkey, which began Monday. Only the monkey doesn't look like a monkey. It looks like a penis penetrating where the sun doesn't shine.



Zhang told The Huffington Post it was a personal project, but a Twitter user noticed the poster in the designer's online portfolio














"I'm OK with it," Zhang, 29, said of the snarky online reactions.


He added that he merely wanted to make something interesting.


Mission accomplished.


He conceded to BuzzFeed that only later did he see "some sexual things" in the work.


"A monkey face was my initial plan," he wrote on his site. "But as long as I was drawing, this turned out."


You might as well own it, dude.


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Refusing To Let It Go: 'Frozen' Is Officially Coming To Broadway In 2018

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"Do you want to build a musical? / Come on lets go and pay / For overpriced tickets to please your young children / Who will never thank you anyway" 


Just when you stopped compulsively singing that one one song (we refuse to name it), Disney announced that "Frozen" is set to receive the Broadway treatment in 2018. We would make a "great white way" pun, but The New York Times already did that. 


According to the Times, the stage adaptation of the highest-grossing animated film of all time will bring together many of the same folks who made the original movie a resounding success like Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Jennifer Lee. 


Before the musical -- the 10th Broadway adaptation of a Disney film -- makes its way to New York, a developmental production will be organized outside of the city in 2017 to ensure it isn't a total Hans (BTW, that means an evil prince from the Southern Isles who takes advantage of your family struggles). 


In addition to an animated holiday special that will reunite Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, and Josh Gad in 2017, Disney announced in March that we'll be getting an official sequel with all of the original cast members. 






"Frozen" grossed $1.28 billion at the worldwide box office and won Disney two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, so it only makes sense that the adventures of Anna and Elsa would continue. 


That being said, it's the first time in forever we're kind of over the whole Disney musical thing UNLESS it's a one-man production featuring Channing Tatum.







 


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12 Adorable Valentines To Give Your Best Friend

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Valentine's Day may be widely recognized as a holiday that celebrates romantic love, but that doesn't mean you can't use the day to appreciate all the loves in your life, including your best friends. 


Below is a sampling of some of the adorable, poignant and *slightly* inappropriate Valentine's Day cards that you can share with your "galentines":



 


 


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8 Photos That Prove Tattoos Are Badass At Any Age

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Turning 50 seems to be the perfect time to go under the needle. No, we're not talking Botox and fillers. We're talking about tattoos. 


More and more post 50s are getting inked for the very first time and no, it's not part of some so-called midlife crisis journey. It's about confidence, empowerment, and celebrating strength after decades of challenges. 



We asked our readers to share their stories of what motivated them to get a tattoo for the very first time. Their answers were moving. From love, to loss, to beating cancer, every design has a special meaning to its bearer. 


And for anyone wondering what those tattoos will look like as they get older, they have one thing to say to you. "I already am old and this is what they look like!" is how Joanne Keith put it. Fabulous. 


Here's their incredible body art and the even more amazing stories of what prompted them to tick tattoos off their bucket list. 



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J.K. Rowling Clarifies We're Not Getting A New 'Harry Potter' Novel

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News of a so-called "eighth" Harry Potter book flooded social media yesterday after publisher Little, Brown, announced it would be releasing the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" script in book format on July 31. 


But, J.K. Rowling wants us all to know, it is not a novel like her seven others in the series. Like the publisher tweeted, it's a script in book format. 






Technically, calling it the "eighth Harry Potter book" is correct. An official site refers to "The Cursed Child" -- the two-part play opening in London this summer that is curiously not a sequel or a prequel to the series, but stars the same beloved characters -- as "the eighth story" in the Harry Potter series. As a book containing that story, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I & II will be the eighth book. It just won't read like Rowling's others.


The whole thing deals with our main character's adult life after the great Battle of Hogwarts.


"While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted," a description on the play's website reads. "As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places." 


The play debuts on July 30, but fans who can't make it to England can buy the book just one day after -- which also happens to be Rowling's (and Harry's) birthday.


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Here's Why You Can't Get That Top 40 Song Out Of Your Head

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If most of the aughts were scored by Beyoncé’s pulsing successes, each more danceable and soulful than the last, then the end of 2015 was a brief fermata, a chance for another powerful voice to chime back in. If you’re a Top 40 devotee, you know that voice was Adele’s, a sorrowful croon that can burst into a vivid range of auditory flourishes on a whim.


When “Hello” came out last fall, it impressed critics, who were already primed to love the edgy, young Cockney singer’s tear-jerking tunes. It also broke a lot of records. The power ballad is Adele’s fourth song to top the Billboard Top 100 charts, but her first -- and the first ever -- to sell one million digital copies in one week.


“Hello” surpassed Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” in YouTube views, speaking to the song’s catchiness. Even listeners who didn’t want to commit to purchasing the track couldn’t stop replaying it, hooked by its mournful, nostalgic tone and slow-marching buildup, culminating in an explosion of feels. This Monday, she'll preform the hit live at the Grammys. 


To figure out what it is about “Hello” that continues to hook both Adele-lovers and reluctant fans, I spoke with David Metzer, professor of music at the University of British Columbia. He’s literally writing the book on the history of the ballad right now, so his insights seemed like they might be valuable -- and they were.


First off, Metzer cautioned against categorizing songs too stringently, especially contemporary hits, which are much more likely to incorporate disparate genres. Although Adele’s “Hello” could be classified as a power ballad, it also pulls in pop, soul and what Metzer called “singer-songwriter intimacy.” That it touches on so many sounds is part of the song’s appeal.


That being said, it also follows a formula -- one that’s been employed by ballad writers in the 1970s and beyond, demonstrating a keen ability to please.


“A power ballad is based on one musical formula, and simply put it's one of constant escalation. These songs begin quietly and subdued, but then it's just nonstop building step by step by step by step,” Metzer explained. “So, usually, you’ll just have piano and voice or something like that, but by the end you’ll have a full orchestra and some electric guitars and all that, so it’s just this ramp-up of emotional intensity and musical intensity.”




Spurred by an abrupt change of key, the jerky shift in a power ballad is referred to as a “truck driver modulation,” a sudden escalation that makes the heart soar.


The switch from slow build to intense release usually happens about three-quarters of the way through the song, according to Metzer. Spurred by an abrupt change of key, the jerky shift in a power ballad is referred to as a “truck driver modulation,” a sudden escalation that makes the heart soar. “You can sense it right away,” Metzer says. “It’s just like everything literally has been taken up a step.”


Metzer traces the power ballad formula -- three quarters escalation, one quarter no-holds-barred emotion -- back to a musician who ostensibly has nothing in common with Adele: the schmaltzy, Broadway-inspired Barry Manilow.


“If you look at songs like 'Mandy' or even 'I Write the Songs,' he’s the one who really came up with this formula that I’ve been following, where it’s just constant escalation and modulation at the end,” Metzer said. “In fact, a critic in the early 1980s called it the 'Big Bang' formula.”


It’s the basis for a bevy of '80s pop and rock hits, including Aerosmith’s head bang-inducing “Dream On,” and Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”


“I think in the 1980s, you had pop and rock groups pick up on these ideas of ballads that just got bigger and bigger and bigger,” Metzer said. “I’m not sure if they were referring to the Manilow songs, but, really, in the late '70s and early '80s the Manilow songs were inescapable, so I’m sure they picked up on it in some way.”


So a simple formula, and the emotional lyrics they tend to encapsulate, unites Adele’s unfiltered love letters, Barry Manilow’s show-tunesy ditties, and Poison’s gravelly insights.


Beyond the catharsis provided by these songs’ structures, Metzer believes they appeal to listeners because they provide moments of earnest emotional indulgence -- which are rarities on the bubbly, glossy Billboard charts, populated as they are with teenage dreams and cheery commands to “Shake It Off.”


“If you look at pop culture, there are very few moments where you do get that unbridled release,” Metzer said. “And these songs provide them, so I think people grabbed onto them for that reason.”


It’s a weighty task for a single song to carry, which is why it makes sense that Adele’s “Hello” is a big, enveloping force, with bold, broad lyrics that could describe the feelings that accompany a variety of lost loves.


Adele has said that “the other side” refers to the maturity she’s discovered beyond the threshold of a rough-and-tumble youth. The song, she’s said, is about no one in particular -- an ode to everyone in the past she’s left behind. So when we sing along, we chant the mantra of a universal feeling: the creeping approach of adulthood, a smooth ride for occasional bursts of overwhelming nostalgia.


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Artist Pays Latino Day Workers Hourly Wage To Sit For A Portrait

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When John Sonsini began painting Latino day laborers in Los Angeles, California, around 2001, his intentions weren't quite political. They were practical. The subjects were available and abundant. 


Sonsini first noticed a man cleaning up outside the building that housed his studio. They struck up a conversation. Sonsini, upon learning that the man spent his days looking for work on Olympic Boulevard, offered him a job: artistic subject. 


"The 'concept' is really all wrapped up in the need to find guys who would be available to model daily at the studio," Sonsini explained to The Huffington Post. "It was my partner Gabriel’s idea to approach the guys gathering for work in the neighborhood of our studio. So the notion of painting dayworkers grew entirely out of my need to have sitters who were available to work daily in the studio."


Sonsini, born in 1950 in Rome, New York, previously compared his painting practice to street photography, emphasizing its spontaneity and intense interest in quotidian detail. He's previously painted individuals he met on the street in L.A., and spent over six years painting no one but his partner Gabriel. Sonsini also recognizes similarities between his painting practice and the craft-based tasks his subjects are often hired to complete, as both manually create an object from nothing. 



For Sonsini, the painting process can take weeks to complete. "I try to select someone I think can stick with the job until the painting's completed," he said. "Its quite a commitment to return every day like that. Usually it takes a kind of relaxed personality, who won’t get bored with the sameness of each day."


Sonsini pays his sitters their normal hourly working wages for their time. 


The subjects assume everyday poses in their everyday clothes. Some stand awkwardly with their arms crossed, as if awaiting further instructions, while others sit casually, hunched over, legs spread. The resulting images diverge starkly from the traditional art historical sitter's pristine posture and carefully selected -- often symbolic or ostentatious -- garb. The images, despite their painterly rendering, where brush strokes are celebrated instead of silenced, feel raw and immediate. Making eye contact with Sonsini's subjects feels like locking eyes with a stranger while crossing the street, momentarily wondering what life is like in their shoes. 


The paintings capture the humanity of Sonsini's subjects without political agenda or an uplifting message. Rather, we see the way people take up space, the minute details of their facial expressions, the vague sensation of their presence. The expressive portraits may never completely break from a political interpretation, but it's clear that Sonsini is compesnating for the art world's lack of diverse faces almost haphazardly. 



"Painting from life, the process is really so totally absorbing that I don’t really think about trying to say something about the sitter," Sonsini said when asked about the message behind his work. "Sometimes I try to recreate a facial expression, or bodily gesture, but I try to steer away from trying to convey anything personal or biographical about the sitter. I like all that to be very open, far preferring the viewer to make of it what they will."


Sonsini's current exhibition at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe gallery also features paintings of still objects -- luggage, cowboy hats, sneakers, changes of clothes. Like his portraits, the still lifes attract potential narratives and symbolic undertones almost immediately. But potential readings and meanings eventually give way to the corporeal power of the images themselves, the humble beauty of a worn suitcase slumped over as if with exhaustion. 


Sonsini's work is on view at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe from February 11 until March 12, 2016. 



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What 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' Tells Us About Women And Marriage

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Jane Austen’s novels are no strangers to film adaptations. You’ve probably seen at least a couple of the many movies that make up that rocky history. If there’s anything to learn from the successes and the flops, it’s that a desire to retell her stories speaks to the deeply universal themes of love, marriage and domestic life in her work.


“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is the latest reimagining to make it to the big screen, throwing the undead into the familiar tale of heroine Elizabeth Bennet. Pride and Prejudice begins, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The zombie mashup starts, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”


The original line still holds true in “PPZ” -- in fact, marriage is still at the forefront of the story, and its importance is highlighted by the addition of zombies. In the film, Mrs. Bennet, with the same constant nagging and naked ambition as the original character, emphasizes to her husband how important it is that her five daughters, including Liz, find husbands. for otherwise, they will inherit nothing as spinsters.


Mr. Bennet (played by Charles Dance, probably best known as Tywin Lannister on "Game of Thrones") replies, “Their immediate survival is my foremost concern.”


In Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the two parents disagree on what should drive their daughters to marry -- economy versus passion. In this adaptation, however, the conflicting opinion is over what holds the most importance: the Bennet sisters’ immediate or long-term survival, with zombie training the key to the former and marriage the latter.



“PPZ” reveals to us that just as much as the zombie apocalypse is a story of survival, so is the marriage plot, especially for women during the early 19th century. As stressed in the novel, this was a time period when women could not inherit property, only male heirs. And without property, a single woman was defenseless in the world.


So when Jane Bennet, the most beautiful of the Bennett sisters, rides a horse to visit the wealthy and handsome Mr. Bingley, she is making a conscious decision to traverse the zombie-infested land between their estates. But an engagement to her prized potential suitor Bingley is worth it.


If this sounds ridiculously dangerous, we should remember that women in the Regency era were no strangers to risk. Valued for their ability to produce offspring, women who married took on the real risk of dying in childbirth.


With their zombie-slaying skills, the Bennett sisters aren’t weak physically -- the bloody carnage they leave behind them at a ball gone horribly awry proves that. Financially, however, they still come from a middle-class family that can’t afford to take care of them for the rest of their lives. Even with the modern addition of zombies, this movie hasn’t time-traveled to the age of liberal feminism and women making their own paper, as Beyoncé strongly advises.


If you think top-notch combat training would elevate women to be equal to men in the "PPZ" world, you’d be wrong. Men in the movie train as well -- much of Darcy’s pride comes from his reputation as a formidable zombie-killing Colonel. Women, as skilled as they may be, are not being recruited as soldiers at the front lines of the zombie war. Their skills are admired by men but not necessarily taken as seriously as when men possess them.


“A woman must have a thorough knowledge of singing, dancing and the art of war,” says Darcy.


Even though those fighting skills are indeed a necessity, they are generally valued like any other “domestic” art -- more as a symbol of social status than an actual utility. These ladies are able to protect themselves in the face of undead hordes, but that ability doesn’t free them from their reliance on men for survival in the long run, and the ultimate necessity to marry.



In a scene with the cruel Caroline Bingley, a rich aristocrat vying for Darcy’s affection, she mocks the fact that Liz was trained in China, not Japan. In the impressive pop-up book opening credits of the movie, we learn that China is where the wise go and Japan, the wealthy.


When Mr. Collins, an odious character gleefully played by Matt Smith, courts Liz, he asserts that she will have to give up her zombie fighting when they get married and later offers to take her shopping for pots and pans to replace her swords and daggers.


It also seems that physical attractiveness still outranks any other trait as the most desirable in a wife. Although, Darcy stands out as a man who finds Liz’s combat fighting attractive, valuing them above looks. As Mr. Darcy notes while Liz is slaying zombies left and right, “her arms are surprisingly muscular, but not unfeminine.”


Eventually, our heroine does find love with Darcy, in a balance of romance and rationality. It’s no coincidence that her true love happens to be a very rich man. Even with their deadly powers, the women in "PPZ" must still look to men as their lifelines in the world.


In the real world, many women still face those circumstances. As The Atlantic has pointed out, statistics show that, financially, married women tend to fare much better than unmarried women, and that while while wealthy women can afford to reject marriage, poor women can't.  


Liz’s friend Charlotte Lucas is the embodiment of the unmarried woman who has to accept a proposal to ensure her own financial well-being. Without marrying Mr. Collins, she was doomed to spinsterhood with no inheritance with which to support herself.


“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” shows us that the narrative of women’s lives, however domestic or seemingly romantic, have always been stories of survival and strength. With or without flesh-eating zombies, the real threat women have frequently faced is a life of poverty, and marriage as a means of survival is still a crucial aspect of many women’s lives today.


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A Visual History Of Marilyn Monroe As A Pin-Up Icon

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Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. Twenty years later, she adopted the name Marilyn Monroe, and catapulted to an unparalleled level of superstardom. 


In her all too brief lifetime, Monroe seduced the world -- no small feat. And even over 50 years after her death, her iconic image remains emblazoned in our memories. Often in red lipstick. 


Below is a brief visual tour through the vibrant life of Ms. Monroe -- largely removed from her movie roles. From staged pin-up photos to candid shots goofing around by the pool, the following images follow Monroe from her early forays into modeling to her reign as America's most renowned sex symbol. If there's one thing the 39 photos make abundantly clear: Monroe was not just famous, she was a star. 


Get lost in the beauty of Marilyn Monroe below: 



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Artist Imagines What Donald Trump Looks Like Naked And It Ain't Pretty (NSFW)

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Warning: This image contains imagined full frontal nudity of Donald Trump and cannot be unseen. 


In a 1991 interview with Esquire, Donald Trump said, "You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass." Too true, Trump, you crazy sexist. 


Unfortunately, the racist demagogue doesn't seem to be packing much himself when it comes to the downstairs department, at least according to a nude artwork making the rounds online this week, thanks to artist Illma Gore.



On Feb. 9, the same day Trump won the New Hampshire Primary, Gore posted the NSFW image to Facebook along with the caption: "My latest painting 'Make America Great Again,' because no matter what is in your pants, you can still be a big prick."


The painting features a routinely livid looking Trump, his mouth pursed and ready to spew some scary xenophobic hate and casual misogyny. But the only thing Trump is wearing, aside from a bracelet, is whatever blonde guinea pig is atop his head. And, at least according to Gore's interpretation, Trump's overconfident macho-bully persona is definitely compensating for something. 


Gore's image is available for download on her website, along with a censored version to show your more prudish Trump haters. If you never want to look at this image ever ever again, however, I understand fully and support your decision. 


Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liarrampant xenophoberacist, misogynistbirther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S. 





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OK Go's New Zero-Gravity Music Video Is Out Of This World

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OK Go is soaring to new heights in their latest, atmosphere-breaking music video. 


The band just released the first-ever video filmed entirely in zero gravity for their song "Upside Down & Out Of This World," the opening track on their 2014 album "Hungry Ghosts."


Over the course of three weeks, OK Go flew 21 flights on S7 Airline planes, with 15 zero-gravity parabolas per flight, to rack up more than two hours spent in weightlessness as practice, according to Entertainment Weekly. 


They announced the release of the new video earlier Thursday on Twitter:






OK Go is already known for pushing the limits when it comes to their music videos. They filmed the video for their debut song, "Here It Goes Again," entirely on treadmills, and have since employed mind-bending optical illusions and a massive Rube Goldberg machine to show off their tunes. 


“It was nearly a decade ago that the world started buzzing about commercial space travel and exploration,” OK Go’s singer Damian Kulash, Jr. explained in a press release.“It dawned on me that soon enough people will be making art in space. So for years, we’ve been looking for the opportunity to make a weightless video. I mean, what could be more thrilling that astronaut training?”


Watch the entire video for "Upside Down & Inside Out" below:








 


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Misty Copeland Recreates Edgar Degas Masterpieces, Takes Our Breath Away

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the late, great artist Edgar Degas is totally blushing in his grave.


Why? Because Misty Copeland, American Ballet Theatre principal ballerina, has stunningly recreated some of the French impressionist's most famous works of art for the March issue of Harper's Bazaar


Photographers Ken Browar and Deborah Ory captured the world-renowned dancer for the eye-catching editorial spread. The resemblance to Degas' original works of dancers at the Paris Opéra Ballet is uncanny. Copeland nails the graceful poses while dressed in high fashion designs by Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Carolina Herrera, and Oscar de la Renta that look like they were literally plucked from each painting and sculpture.   



The clever concept behind the shoot is in celebration of the opening of a new exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art, "Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty." 


Although Copeland makes the poses in these images look effortless, the 33-year-old phenom says it was quite the challenge.  


"It was interesting to be on a shoot and to not have the freedom to just create like I normally do with my body," Copeland told Harper's Bazaar. "Trying to re-create what Degas did was really difficult. It was amazing just to notice all of the small details but also how he still allows you to feel like there's movement. That's what I think is so beautiful and difficult about dance too. You're trying to strive for this perfection, but you still want people to get that illusion that your line never ends and that you never stop moving."


Here's a look at more of the stunning photos and a behind-scenes-video from the making of the awe-inspiring shoot. 








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