It’s 9:30 p.m. on a frigid NYC Valentine’s Day, and JJ Lane, recent alum of “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” is standing on a banquette at The Ainsworth in Chelsea, hollering insults at former co-star Joshua Albers.

The target of Lane’s playful wrath continues to smile gamely through selfies with eager young women, all dressed in their rose ceremony best (lace bodycon dresses, teetering heels, sequins), as Lane gives Albers the finger. The semicircle of ladies gathered around Lane, in as many tight rows as an onion has layers, grows fidgety. “JJ, get down here,” one yells, grabbing at him.

The “Bachelor” fans are here for charity, and they need their selfies.

A few weeks ago, I thought I’d spend Valentine’s Day the normal way -- on the couch, ordering calorie-dense takeout and scrolling through the on-demand options for a few hours with my fiancé. Sometimes, though, duty calls. Duty doesn’t care about your brick oven pizza plans. When I heard tell of a New York City-area charity auction and watch party for the 20th anniversary “Bachelor” special hosted by Ashley Iaconetti (she of the teary lashes), I knew my night would be spent marinating in a -- er -- different kind of romantic atmosphere. Emma Gray, who co-hosts HuffPost’s “Bachelor” podcast “Here to Make Friends” with me, would be on a well-deserved vacation, so I would be repping the podcast alone, and I was ready.

Without doubt, it would be the most fan-favorite-filled night in “Bachelor” history. Aside from Iaconetti, “Bachelorette” icons including Nick Viall, Jared Haibon, JJ Lane and Ben Zorn would be auctioning off a precious hour of their time to benefit THON, all while the year’s most adorable reality TV couple, Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert, tied the knot on approximately 47 hi-def TVs all around the venue.

I bought a ticket -- $65, to benefit charity. Cocktail attire was requested, perhaps in order to create a natural habitat for our “Bachelor” stars. I curled my hair and eyelashes and put on a dress I would describe as “from Urban Outfitters.” I also put on a coat I would describe as “enormous,” because it was 2 degrees out, and sallied forth. I had lip gloss in my purse. My heart was open. My “please come on HuffPost’s reality TV podcast” pitch was ready. “Can I steal you for a second?” hung on the tip of my tongue. This journey was just beginning.

When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was the coat check. Several minutes later, I noticed the line for the coat check, which was not where I thought it was. The 45 minutes I ultimately spent in this line, while frustrating, especially as I did not arrive with a buddy to send off to the bar for coat check line drinks, did at least provide me with ample opportunity to scope out the crowd.

It was very, very female. I saw a couple of men, who were pretty clearly attentive significant others or the advertised “Bachelorette” stars. But that’s hardly a surprise, given that the show is coded so female -- most women showed up in pairs or small gaggles, while it may be more embarrassing for even men who enjoy the show to admit to friends they’d like to go. Besides, Iaconetti was the only advertised gal on the auction block.  At the event, she herself told Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the fashion bloggers known as the Fug Girls, that male fans often seem to watch the show along with their wives or girlfriends and approach her simply to say hi, not hit on her. 

For the Nicks and Joshes in the club, the fan attention leaned more carnal. A handful of the endless waves of women in attendance seemed like sweet, eager fans, fresh-faced in flat shoes and everyday hair, just looking for a moment with their favorites; the majority looked ready to volunteer for a sudden opening in one of the “Bachelor” limos. Professional blowouts and barrel curls bristled in every direction. The eyeliner game on display made me ashamed of my own half-hearted smoky eye. Dresses had been chosen to flaunt curves; heels for their pencil-slim height. Manicured hands clutched at rose-hued cocktails as necks craned searchingly, seeking any nearby “Bachelorette” heartthrob.

When the “Bachelor” bachelor auction started, this attention became more focused, as all the semi-celebs were pulled up to the auction block. Nick Viall was entrusted with auctioning off his compatriots, starting with Ben Zorn, a clumsily hunky fan favorite who quickly sold for around $1,200, despite some confusion amongst the auctioneers about who was actually bidding and who was just being effusive. (This would be a problem throughout the night.) A lull followed, as Albers, Lane and Josh Murray went for prices in the high hundreds. Jared Haibon, the sweet bartender adored by viewers -- and Ashley Iaconetti -- modestly cracked a thousand. Michael Garofola, an NYC-based attorney, leveraged his purportedly cute new puppy to sell himself for over $5,000, as Iaconetti and Viall clearly began to feel a bit intimidated by the realness of the money being pledged. Iaconetti went up for auction, though I didn’t spot a single unattached man present except for those onstage. Her friend Haibon gallantly snatched her up for around $700, then stepped up to shill the inimitable Viall himself, a two-time "Bachelorette" runner-up, to the crowd. Not much shilling was needed, and the frenzied bidding war ultimately carried the prices up to an all-night high of $5,600. (I mean, he is a pretty decent conversationalist.)

As the auction ended, the stars dutifully spread through the club, circulating among the non-auction winners for selfies (in her pre-event message, Iaconetti requested “as few retakes as possible”). Almost immediately, each man found himself the sun at the center of a tightly swirling solar system of squealing, iPhone-wielding women. A couple rows back, the ladies were more calm and calculated, scanning the room for a better Bachelor, or a Bachelor with a smaller crowd around him to penetrate, or just casually judging (“Ugh, I just don’t get it,” you’d hear in passing as a small gaggle of girls swept disdainfully past Haibon as he held court).

In my personal life, I have a deeply socialized desire not to seem pushy or demanding that overcomes me at events like this. It’s partly why the aggressiveness of the other female fans present awes me. How did these women escape the near-universal messaging that men hate forwardness, that acting semi-predatory will seem grotesque and unladylike? Lane himself told me later that he actually relishes rejecting women who approach him, a satisfying reversal of the mating role he’s used to. Is the fandom of Bachelor Nation's women stronger than their socialization? Are they refusing to let their fears hold them back from what they want? Is society truly getting more equal? I put this complex anthropological question aside as I elbowed through a tight knot of women to introduce myself successively to Lane, Albers, Iaconetti, and Haibon. I was there to make professional contact. But also, I felt a little flutter of excitement in my stomach. I was actually seeing these people in real life.

I mean, not that I care.

Soon, the night started to wind down. The “Bachelor” alumni were scheduled to end the evening with 45 minutes of one-on-one time with their winning bidders in the VIP area at the back of the club, and the rest of us filtered out.

Well, most of us. Viall told me the next day, as he and Lane joined me on the podcast, that his second-place bidder hung around meaningfully, waiting for him to finish his bought-and-paid-for date so she could whisk him away herself, despite the numerous requests to leave.  

And it wasn’t just during the auction date -- watching “The Bachelor” had seemingly induced some bad habits all around. “Some women would come up,” Viall said, wincing, “and be like, ‘Hey, can I steal you…’ and I’d be like, ‘I can’t really leave.’” The ladies of NYC were there for their romantic meet-cute, one worthy of the show itself. (Actually, he emphasized, the vast majority of them were very nice and appreciative of their selfie moment and brief chat. For the record.) “Our lives suck,” joked Lane, who seemed simultaneously exhilarated and exhausted by the avalanche of female scrutiny and desire.

Ah, to both long for and fear the demands of romantic attention from the opposite sex -- what's that's like? "The Bachelor" dudes might just be experiencing what it's like to be the hot girl at the bar, but more so, and as we all know, that's a position that's fraught with both benefits and serious drawbacks. But for Lane, Viall and co., there isn't much time to ponder this: They've got selfies to take.

For more, check out Nick Viall and J.J. Lane on HuffPost's "Here to Make Friends," along with a recap of this week's episode of "The Bachelor":

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Fearless Photographers, a website dedicated to showcasing the world's best wedding photos, just released the winners of their latest contest. 

After combing through more than 16,000 submissions, they arrived at 190 finalists -- and boy, are they stunning. Below we present 25 of our favorites, along with commentary from the editors of the Fearless Photographers site. 

For even more awe-inspiring photography, head over to the Fearless Photographers site to see the complete collection. 

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"The Bachelor" franchise has returned, this time with all-American family man Ben "Unlovable" Higgins at its center. And on "Here To Make Friends," we talk about all of it -- for the right reasons.

In this week's "Here To Make Friends" podcast, hosts Claire Fallon and Emma Gray recap Episode 7 of "The Bachelor," Season 20. We'll discuss the allure of Warsaw, Indiana (or the lack thereof), Ben's breakups with Emily and Becca, and the totally un-subtle McDonalds product placement.

Plus, we're joined by former "Bachelorette" contestants Nick Viall and JJ Lane, as well as the host with the most, Mr. Chris Harrison! 

See who made the cut this week in the handy graphic (above), and check out the full recap of Episode 7 by listening to the podcast:

Do people love "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise," or do they love to hate these shows? It's unclear. But here at "Here To Make Friends," we both love and love to hate them -- and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.

The best tweets about this week's episode of "The Bachelor"...

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Benjamin Dix makes a unique form of comic book. He and his U.K.-based organization PositiveNegatives take the harrowing stories told by ordinary people caught in humanitarian crises around the world and transform them into visually immersive narratives.

For his latest comic, Dix partnered with the Overseas Development Institute to tell the story of a young Eritrean woman who escaped to Europe after she was imprisoned and ordered into military service. The comic follows "Merha" as she makes the dangerous and costly journey to the United Kingdom.

The stories told by PositiveNegatives are based on interviews with and testimonies of real people, though names and other identifying characteristics are changed. In the case of Merha, the character is adapted from the testimonies of two Eritrean women.

The WorldPost spoke with Dix about how he came to tell this particular story, what comic books can add to our understanding of the refugee crisis and what it means to tell tragic stories through art. 

Were there any aspects of the research for Merha's story that stood out to you and helped create that narrative?

It was her personal struggle, the fact that there was no life for her in Eritrea. She was going to be conscripted into the army, and as we've seen in Eritrea, that can be decades that you're just lost in military service.

There were also the endless barriers that she had to cross to get to the U.K. -- from smugglers and traffickers to crossing crocodile-infested rivers. There was all the sexual violence that happened in Libya, and then the Mediterranean.

What the media isn't really talking about too much is the fact that she's crossed so many hurdles before she's even got to the Mediterranean.

Here in Europe we're constantly seeing images of people arriving on the shores of Greece or Italy. What the media isn't really talking about too much is the fact that she's crossed so many hurdles before she’s even got to the Mediterranean.

I think it's also interesting that you're highlighting the Eritrean refugee crisis, which is immense but receives a lesser degree of coverage.

Exactly, and we did our Syrian project last year with The Guardian. The Overseas Development Institute and myself talked at the inception of the project about whether we were going to do another Syria story, and we were all in agreement that the media is awash with Syrian stories and it's like there's no other people migrating.

There's hundreds of thousands of other people migrating, and lots of people don't know anything about Eritrea. It's been a locked-off country for so many years, so I think it was really important to highlight the fact that there are people fleeing from Eritrea trying to get to Europe. [Hundreds of thousands of people have fled that East African nation in recent years, escaping indefinite forced conscription into the army and an authoritarian government that the U.N. accuses of grave human rights violations.]

You suddenly find yourself ... in a spiraling world of smugglers where there's no way out, no way back and no way forward unless you can drum up another thousand pounds.

The other point that we wanted to get across was the amount that it costs. At every hurdle she's asked by smugglers for new amounts of money and that can be in the hundreds or the thousands of pounds. You suddenly find yourself, as I hope we've pointed out, in a spiraling world of smugglers where there's no way out, no way back and no way forward unless you can drum up another thousand pounds.

What do you think the format of graphic novels or comic books lends to these stories that other media reports may not?  

I find that comic books are the only medium that I can really think of where we can follow her from Eritrea to the U.K. A documentary maker can't really make that journey -- the Libyan and Sudanese smugglers aren't going to be happy with a Western documentary maker standing there filming -- but in a comic book, you can go on the raft across that crocodile-infested river.

You get to see the whole story in a graphic novel or comic book that you just can't see in other mediums.

You get to see the whole story in a graphic novel or comic book that you just can't see in other mediums.

Also, the form of the comic book -- it’s an individual story, so it cuts away the narrative of statistics and it breaks it right down. You can hopefully see that this could be me or this could be my sister or my daughter, and I find it personalizes it in that sense. 

What are your thoughts on the responsibilities or ethical issues that come with turning real-life testimonies into a kind of art form?

I'm actually just about to submit my Ph.D. thesis in anthropology, which is about the methodology and ethics of creating testimonial comics. I served with the U.N. for about four years in Sri Lanka through the civil war and left in 2008, professionally and emotionally broken after the U.N. evacuation.

It's my job to tell their story, but it's their story.

I decided I wanted to tell stories of survivors of that conflict starting in 2010. My Ph.D. is 50 percent a comic on Sri Lanka and 50 percent the ethics and methodology of creating it.

What I really looked into was that responsibility -- as a white privileged male sitting here in London, how does one tell the stories of trauma and the psychology of suddenly being a refugee? I use a lot of methodologies about reception, of going back to the respondents and clearing with them that this is their story. It's my job to tell their story, but it's their story.

What do you hope people take away from this project after they read it?

I hope they really see the human side behind this. Europe at the moment is suffering from a frenzy of paranoia of the "others" coming in and upsetting the balance, and our perceived safety and security here in Europe.

I've never interviewed anyone in Europe who doesn't want to be back home. No one leaves their home unless they really have to, and no one wants to be a refugee.

Hopefully when you read Merha's story, you see that due to where she was born, due to the political or the economic nature of the country, she didn't really have a choice. She doesn't want to be conscripted into the army for 30 years. She's not a threat; she's someone who can be a benefit to Europe. Let's have some compassion for people and welcome them rather than be scared of them.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

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Post-reality TV life can go, as “Bachelor” contestants love to say, one of two ways. Some of the franchise’s stars fade quietly back into regular life almost right away, often hooking up with an old college boyfriend again or finding a wife back home where they’d previously claimed dating options had dried up. Some stick around, getting paid for club appearances, appearing on podcasts and talk shows, showing up at anniversary specials, or even finagling themselves back onto new seasons of the franchise or other reality TV shows.

Most of the men and women of “The Bachelor” franchise exist in a tough place, dating-wise -- they’re sort of famous, in a way that advertises their romantic availability and desirability. But they’re not famous for anything that’s likely to sustain a permanent célébrité. A few exceptions aside, they seem to realize this, and they typically seem to date normally rather than among the cloistered celeb class. Ben Flajnik’s current girlfriend works in healthcare; Ashley Salter recently became engaged to a college flame who’s in real estate; Tenley Molzahn’s new love is a product line manager at a footwear company. (You get the picture.)

You know what that means, Bachelor Nation: It’s not out of the realm of possibility that you, too, could someday find yourself on a one-on-one date with a gentleman or lady you spotted on “The Bachelor” or “Bachelorette.” But how? And once there, how do you ensure that powerful rose to advance to the fantasy suite and beyond?

Well, first of all, you can cut out all the strained “Bachelor” references I just tried to shoehorn in. Nick Viall, two-time “Bachelorette” runner-up, and J.J. Lane, of “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” joined HuffPost’s podcast “Here to Make Friends” this week and ended up sharing a number of insights into how to win over a reality TV star. 

1. No corny “Bachelor”-themed lines:

“Bachelor lines … there’s nothing worse than when people are like, ‘Will you accept this rose?’ Some people say it seriously." --Nick

This is very important: Nix the canned pick-up lines pulled straight from the show; trust they’ve heard them all, and they are not amused. You might think you’re starring in the rom-com of his life, or demonstrating unbearably unique wit, but consider the thousands of girls who’ve gone that route before.

2. Even if you watched their season of the show, try to get to know them from scratch.

“If [a woman] came up to me and started talking to me, and even saying, ‘Is it weird that I know so much about you?’, that would be a huge turnoff. If someone recognized that they probably don’t know that much about me, and they probably just know a portion that they saw on TV, and took the time … that wouldn’t bother me.” --Nick

Play it cool, not in order to seem “cool,” but so you can get to know them as a person outside of their show appearance. That’s only one small part of a former TV star’s whole package!

3. Consider playing it really, really cool.

“I really enjoy now, [as] the everyman, that I get to reject girls that have to come up to me.” --J.J.

Rejecting cute girls is like shooting fish in a barrel for fan favorites from these shows, who are bombarded with attention whenever they hit the singles scene. Some of them -- ahem, J.J. -- even seem to enjoy it, in a perverse way. Why give them that satisfaction? Hang back and be the aloof prize, not the opportunity for twisted gender payback.

4. Actually, it might already be too late for you.

“Ladies, if you’re looking to date me, you shouldn’t be listening to this, because I want someone who’s never watched the show.”--J.J.

Okay, this advice doesn’t all jibe -- these guys are individuals, not a Greek chorus -- but frankly, some former “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” singles don’t even want to go there with the show’s viewers. If only time machines were real. 

For more candid advice from Nick and J.J., listen to this week's episode of "Here to Make Friends": 

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"Hamilton" is a Broadway musical.

More specifically, it is a wildly popular musical about "a scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America." That scrappy young immigrant from the Caribbean is the titular Alexander Hamilton, played by prolific composer/lyricist/rapper (also a MacArthur "Genius Grantee" and, swoon, the show's writer) Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

On stage, Miranda is supported by a hyper-talented and racially diverse cast of singers, rappers and dancers who deftly act out the highs and lows of Founding Fathers-era America. Together, they offer an unlikely, hip-hop-inspired retelling of the United States' revolutionary history, punctuated by dramatic, character-driven stories of ambition and revenge, all driven by Miranda's serendipitous decision to read a Hamilton biography while on vacation.

You might have caught wind of the show on the Grammys Monday night. Or, perhaps you've been listening to their album -- the first-ever cast album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Rap Album chart. Or maybe you've actually seen the show, though thats unlikely since tickets are near impossible to track down. Regardless, you're probably finding it difficult to avoid the "OMG HAMILTON" tweets, particularly this week, in the wake of the cast's awards season debut.

If you're new to the hype, let me first welcome you to planet Earth, or congratulate you from moving out from beneath that rock you've called home for at least six months. Now that that's over with, here are a few things die-hard fans would like you to know about the hit show:

1. You do not need to see the Broadway musical to love it.

It is, erm, difficult to acquire "Hamilton" tickets. Head over to the official website and you'll be greeted with a less-than-encouraging message: "Currently, tickets to 'Hamilton' on Broadway are extremely limited." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The show is basically sold out, though there's a lottery you can enter. But wait! Don't despair. Because you can listen to the Grammy-winning album. In fact, a lot of devoted fans haven't even caught the show on Broadway. But the album is so. So. Great.

2. That being said, you should at least try to nab tickets. 

Fans no longer have to wait in lines, in the cold, to secure tickets, because the lottery is now digital. And, for those of you not located in or around New York City -- the production is due for a national tour.

So you might as well attempt to see the show. Let these reviews serve as motivation: "Yes, it really is that good," said The New York Times. It's "a commercial hit that is also an artistic watershed," cooed The Los Angeles Times. It's "a tribute to rap’s strength and malleability," declared Talib Kweli.

3. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a godsend.

He's a MacArthur Fellow, so you know he has credentials. The New York City-born writer and performer, of Puerto Rican descent, created the Tony Award-winning musical "In The Heights" when he was just a sophomore in college. He starred in that production, too.

Oh, and he rapped his acceptance speech at the Grammys.

4. But, so is the rest of the cast.

While Miranda kills it as Alexander Hamilton, the other characters are hardly second-rate. "Smash" star Leslie Odom Jr. plays Aaron Burr, the man who killed Hamilton in an unforgettable duel. Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo play the women in Hamilton's life -- Angelica Schuyler Church and Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, respectively. There's Christopher Jackson as George Washington and Jonathan Groff, of "Spring Awakening" fame, as King George III. The list goes on. 

5. You really, really, really don't need to love history to get into "Hamilton."

Sure, the play is inspired by non-fictional events -- Hamilton really did grow up in the British West Indies, Burr really did kill Hamilton in a bitter duel. But the musical is just as much about pop culture as it is about history. As Rebecca Mead noted in The New Yorker, "Hamilton also reminded Miranda of Tupac Shakur, the West Coast rapper who was shot to death in 1996."

Be prepared for references to theater staples like Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, and "West Side Story," as well as nods to hip-hop icons: Biggie Smalls, the Fugees, even Jamie Foxx.

6. However, history nerds, you will not be disappointed.

If you're versed in popular theater and hip-hop knowledge AND you also read Ron Chernow’s 800-page Hamilton biography, you are in for a treat. But really, there's some serious American Federalist history intrigue here.

7. "Hamilton" is not just a retelling of revolutionary acts. It is revolutionary.

While most of the characters in "Hamilton" are based on white historical figures, the cast is -- for the majority, save for King George III and a few others -- noticeably diverse. The color-blind casting technique, along with the infusion of hip-hop sounds, allows, as Kendra James wrote in The Toast, "younger students who hear or see this musical [...] to start drawing connections between Miranda’s revolutionary 'Hamilton' and current events."

"Melding a love of the musical with a pop culture sensibility, Miranda is expanding the conventions of mainstream theater," the MacArthur Foundation notes of Miranda's masterpiece, "and showcasing the cultural riches of the American urban panorama."

8. In fact, we'd like Hollywood to take note -- diversity matters.

Think a diverse cast isn't "universal" enough? Please.

9. It's not the next "The Book of Mormon." It's better.

There have been loads of comparisons to "The Book of Mormon" and "Rent" and even "Billy Elliott;" essentially, all other musicals that have managed to rustle attention outside of the typical musical fans. But take our advice, "Hamilton" is something different.

10. Broadway, this is how you attract new, young audiences.

Just ask the teens.

11. Please, just give us more Lin-Manuel Miranda.

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More than 20 million Americans get down with yoga. It's a wonderful fact, considering the ancient practice can do a body and mind really, really good. 

But many fewer, we'd bet, practice yoga in the buff. For yoga novices, it takes courage enough just to show up to a class, what with seasoned head-standers ohm-ing a mat over. But a new naked yoga Instagram account could be just the thing a burgeoning yogi needs. 

Nude Yoga Girl shows that getting into a naked downward dog can be a spiritual practice all its own; her account serves as a handy instructional guide for newbies. The 25-year-old model-photographer has racked up 245,000 Instagram followers by sharing graceful black and white portraits of herself in yoga poses without clothes.

While "model" and "naked" might not sound like a recipe for empowering yoga beginners, the feed is all about showcasing the human body in a new way, while offering a clear guide to proper form: Yes, many of the yogi's poses are advanced and super twisty, but many of her photos work as guides to beginners who want to grasp the right alignment. And indeed, the lack of clothing makes it much easier to see the clear lines of each pose. 

"I want to show that nudity can be something else than only sexual," the model behind Nude Yoga Girl, who prefers to remain anonymous, told The Huffington Post in an email. She continued:

The human body is beautiful and the poses and shapes can be seen very well without any clothing on. I wanted to take off everything unnecessary from the pictures on my account. Nudity in social media is a taboo but on the other hand the nakedness and rawness of my photos reflect well what I want to tell people with my account. 

The artist said she's been practicing yoga for most of her life, ramping up to a daily practice about a year ago.

She mostly practices by herself at home, she said, and will sometimes use online classes to move her yoga forward. With nearly 100 posts, she has the process for practicing and capturing her poses down to a science. It looks a little something like this: 

I set up the lighting and the camera settings ready. After that I do a short yoga practice to warm up before starting the photoshoot. Sometimes I plan the poses in advance by browsing the internet or books for some inspiration and sometimes I get creative in front of the camera! My boyfriend is kind enough to press the camera button and take the photo of me. I'm very grateful for his help. 

If this type of art and exercise has piqued your curiosity, there are naked yoga classes available in cities nation-wide. If that's too much for you, might we suggest sleeping in your birthday suit? The practice is a little less risqué, but comes with plenty of benefits and you won't have to worry about slipping out of position on your yoga mat. 

See more of Nude Yoga Girl's beautiful photography on her Instagram and website. 

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Pixar movies are double features. If you bought a ticket for "A Bug's Life" back in 1998, you probably remember "Geri's Game," the opening short film about an elderly chess prodigy who competes against himself. Seventeen years and 11 shorts later, 2015 became the first time the studio released two movies in the same year. "Inside Out" gave us the Hawaiian volcano romance "Lava," and "The Good Dinosaur" prompted some of Pixar's best reviews with the reverie "Sanjay's Super Team."

While the maudlin, uninspired "Lava" didn't fare well with critics, "Sanjay's Super Team" became an instant Pixar classic when "The Good Dinosaur" opened in November. On Feb. 28, it will compete for the Oscars' Best Animated Short Film prize, which has netted Pixar 12 nominations and three wins. (Watch an exclusive featurette about the creation of "Sanjay" above.)

"Sanjay's Super Team" is poignant because it's far more personal than a lot of Pixar's catalog. Whereas most shorts feel like miniature versions of what could be full-length features, "Super Team" is an autobiography sandwiched into a seven-minute morsel. Inspired by director Sanjay Patel's own childhood, the film earned raves for its portrayal of a young Indian boy who resents being pulled away from his Western action figures and comic books and superhero shows for daily meditations with his devout Hindu father. 

Patel, who struggled for years to accept his Indian identity while growing up in California in the 1980s, pitched the idea for the short in 2012. The Pixar vet's credits included animation work on "A Bug's Life," "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille," but "Sanjay's Super Team" became Patel's directorial debut.

Encouraged by Pixar chief John Lasseter, he conceptualized the dialogue-free story of a meditation session where little Sanjay's action figures morph into Hindu gods, bridging the native culture he wishes to reject with the livelier one he favors. (If the movie were a direct retelling of Patel's life, the action figures would be the dollar bills that Patel used to crib from his family's spiritual shrine.) 

It took Patel years to embrace the Hindu orthodoxy that always felt irrelevant and isolating to him. "The cosmic irony is that, 30 years later, who would have ever thought that I would be completely smitten by the mythology of these same deities?" Patel told The Huffington Post via phone last week. He was so smitten, in fact, that he studied the revered Indian epic poem the "Ramayana" and made Hindu-inspired pop art before directing "Sanjay's Super Team."

Patel called the process of revisiting his father's spiritual practices "healing." 

"Having been [at Pixar] now for 20 years, since I hadn’t seen anything that was so culturally specific, I just didn’t think that was what we would do or would be interested in," Patel said. "I was really convinced of that. The thing that I think is so hard to articulate is when you grow up as a person of color without seeing much representation of yourself or your family out there, you just don’t think it’s relevant to the cultural conversation. It really took John Lasseter to stand up and say, 'No, Sanjay, tell your story -- tell the truth of seeing your father’s experience. If we do that, and if we really stay true to your father’s experience, it will resonate.'"

And it has. As important as it is to see Pixar feature another character of color, a la the Asian "Up" protagonist Russell, "Sanjay's Super Team" transcends the cultural disparities that cement its themes. It's as much a story about the evolving bond of a parent and child, or the restlessness of young ennui, or simply accepting one's heritage. It ends with an extra token from Patel's life, per Lasseter's suggestion: actual photos of Patel and his father. 

"For so long, it had been so hard, as if I could hide my Indian identity," he said. "My name is Sanjay Patel. But growing up, it was so hard for me to inhabit my name, my skin and my identity. It’s been really healing to know that people are OK with it, that people are in fact delighted with it and in fact people want more of it. That’s the response that’s been healing for me, not just as a filmmaker but as a person of color."

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Jeff Nichols knows how to pick 'em. The director's first two movies, 2007's "Shotgun Stories" and 2011's "Take Shelter," introduced a partnership with Michael Shannon, who has become Nichols' signature leading man. Shannon took a supporting role in Nichols' 2012 thriller "Mud," which cast Matthew McConaughey at the start of his prestige renaissance. Now, with next month's "Midnight Special," Nichols has put Shannon, a recent Golden Globe and SAG nominee for "99 Homes," back in the driver's seat. 

The Huffington Post has four exclusive photos from the new movie, which premiered last week at the Berlin Film Festival and will play again at South by Southwest before opening theatrically on March 18. Inspired by John Carpenter's "Starman," "Midnight Special" is a sci-fi road trip about a former cult member named Roy (Shannon) as he attempts to protect Alton, his supernaturally gifted 8-year-old son ("St. Vincent" breakout Jaeden Lieberher), from both a religious sect (led by Sam Shepard) and a powerful government task force (led by Adam Driver). 

Accompanied by an old friend (Joel Edgerton) who believes in Alton's powers and his ex-wife (Kirsten Dunst), Roy is determined to ensure his son's safety. That journey takes them from their native Texas to the Florida coast, all while Alton grows increasingly weak. 

See our four shots from the Nichols-penned film below.

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"I have always been interested in the unique or what is conventionally viewed as different," South Africa-based photographer Justin Dingwall explained to The Huffington Post. "I find difference very inspiring."

When Dingwall met Thando Hopa, a South African model with albinism, he was immediately enthralled by her unconventional beauty. One in 4,000 people in South Africa has albinism, a congenital condition in which a person is unable to produce the typical pigmentation of skin, hair and eyes. The condition results in extremely fair complexion, pale tresses and weak vision marked by sensitivity to light.

Those living with albinism in South Africa and nearby countries have been subjected to extreme prejudice and acts of violence. "When we get into taxis, people still move to the other side, or even refuse to use that taxi," Nomasonto Mazibuko explained to South Africa's Mail and Guardian. "We are still called isishawa [a Zulu word for a person who is cursed] and inkawu [an Nguni word for ‘white baboon’]."

In Tanzania, where one in 1,400 are affected, people with albinism are often hunted by witch doctors. Their body parts, believed to be good luck, sell for around $75,000. In 2008, after 50 individuals with albinism were killed in Tanzania, the UN declared the population "persons with disabilities." But when Dingwall met Hopa, he saw not a disability but a gift. 

"Thando's inner strength and poise radiate from her," Dingwall said, "Her drive and tenacity are very inspiring. It made me want to get to know her better and try to understand more about albinism. As I learned more about it, the more I felt it was important to create awareness about albinism through art."

"There is a beauty in difference, and I hope through my work to inspire people to embrace this difference and reinterpret their ideals of beauty."

After sharing his photographs of Hopa, Sanele Junior Xaba, who also has albinism, reached out to Dingwall over social media. The two built up a friendship, and when the model eventually moved to Johannesburg, they collaborated on a series titled "Albus."  

"Sanele is a true professional that is up for anything," Dingwall continued, citing his openness to work with snakes despite his deep phobia as an example. "Not only does Sanele’s outer beauty reflect in the works, but his inner strength is also revealed."

Through his series, Dingwall hopes to dispel the negative myths and taboos associated with albinism in South African culture. On a larger scale, he hopes to challenge idealized notions of beauty and celebrate the value of variance. "The images are not about race or fashion, but about perception, and what we subjectively perceive as beautiful," the artist said. "I wanted to create a series of images that resonate with humanity and make people question what is beautiful."

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A woman in a purple hijab sits playing the piano, a tear rolling down her cheek. She plays her solitary tune amongst a sea of blue skyscrapers, soaring above the cars that zoom beneath her unnoticed. This subject already wears her contradictions proudly -- she is strong, she is vulnerable, she is graceful, creative, separate, sad. And yet, at least it seems, she calls out to no one, content to sit with her feelings and express herself creatively, freely, in peace. 

This work of street art was made by Shamsia Hassani, widely known as the first prominent woman street artist in Afghanistan. Hassani was born in 1988 in Tehran to Afghan parents, eventually moving to Kabul to pursue her bachelor's and master's degrees in visual art. She currently resides in Kabul, where she turns the city's walls into colorful canvases that spread a message of peace and hope to her community.

Through her work, Hassani hopes to present a different view of Afghanistan -- one not easily equated with war and violence but beauty and art. "I want to cover all bad memories of war from people’s minds with colors," she said in an interview with Street Art Bio.

As if Hassani isn't taking on enough of a challenge, she's subtly subverting dominant gender norms in the process.

"I have changed my images to show the strength of women, the joy of women," Hassani explained in an interview with Art Radar Journal. "In my artwork, there is lots of movement. I want to show that women have returned to Afghan society with a new, stronger shape. It’s not the woman who stays at home. It’s a new woman. A woman who is full of energy, who wants to start again. You can see that in my artwork, I want to change the shape of women. I am painting them larger than life. I want to say that people look at them differently now."

Hassani's subjects sometimes don burqa and hijab, customary Islamic garments that, in Hassani's drawings, become playgrounds for shape, line and color to take on a modernist grace. Most importantly, the images refute some dominant Western assumptions, showing that there can be freedom within tradition. 

"There are a lot of people around the world who think that the burqa is the problem," Hassani said. "They think that if women remove the burqa, then they have no problems. But this is not true. I feel that there are lots of problems in Afghanistan for women. For example, when women cannot have access to education; this is more of a problem then wearing a burqa."

Hassani creates a new work of graffiti approximately once every two to three months. While in the U.S. and much of Europe, graffiti is treated as a crime, the technique is embraced in Afghanistan. Hassani also teaches graffiti at the University of Kabul, where most of her students, in their 20s, are around her age.

Art galleries are scarce in the region, but barren walls are in abundance, making graffiti an ideal way to expose art to a wide, if accidental audience. However, Hassani does encounter difficulties creating work as a woman, and is often forced to confront an ugly majority that believe a woman's place is in the home. Because of the struggles arising from sexist beliefs, Hassani developed a practice she calls "dreaming graffiti" -- work made in the studio instead of on the streets. With this technique, Hassani uses digital images as her cityscape, painting over them to create a colorful landscape inside her mind.  

Hassani is currently the artist-in-residence at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Read on for the artist's descriptions of three of her graffiti series, "Secret," "Birds of No Nation" and "Once Upon a Time." 

Secret 

"I began this series by outlining the figures of women in burqas with straight lines and sharp edges, conveying a feeling of strength. Still, I wanted to show the secret beneath the burqa, which is that there is a real person inside. I wanted to remove the restrictions on women and the guitar represents her ability to speak up and express herself. It is red because the color is used to draw attention to important things in Afghanistan."

Birds of No Nation 

"Birds are constantly migrating to find food and shelter, they have no nationality because they find comfort in any safe place. I see this in the Afghan people as well, they are moving from country to country in search of peace and safety. It seems as if they have no nation like those birds. In this series, the woman is in a new area and she is feeling displaced because nothing is hers and so she does not fit in."

Once Upon a Time 

"The title comes from the traditional way of telling a story. My tale is of a woman living in the past and present at once. This woman has tried to free herself from her unhappy situation and so she is sitting above it all, looking in from the outside. The city view is in black-and-white, representing the way that we see the past, while she is in full color and in the present."

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Japanese basics magnate Uniqlo is releasing a line of "modest fashion," including hijabs, in American stores later this month. 

The line is a collaboration with Japanese-British-Muslim designer Hana Tajima, who successfully launched a similar line of modest Uniqlo garments in Southeast Asia last year.  

Uniqlo x Hana Tajima will officially launch on Feb. 26, and is affordably priced from $10 to $60. It includes traditional Islamic garments like the hijab, kebaya, and jubbah, but also loose-fitting Western items like skirts and long-sleeve tops.

Tajima told The Huffington Post she wanted to provide a variety of garments because "modesty varies from person to person -- it's not just about hijabs, it’s about finding looser silhouettes, more coverage, longer hems and sleeves."

Uniqlo will be the latest brand to target Muslim women, following the footsteps of Dolce & Gabbana's line of abayas and DKNY and Mango's "Ramadan collections." But its effort seems like the best one yet, for several reasons.

For one thing, its designer is actually Muslim. Tajima, who is 29, converted to Islam when she was 18. Her father is Japanese and her mom is English, and this cosmopolitan background may inform her conception of the Muslim world as a diverse population, rather than a monolith.

That's why the Uniqlo line includes so many different options for "modest wear." There are three different head-covering options: a traditional scarf-like hijab, a form-fitting "inner hijab" to be worn inside looser garments, and an "inner headband" that is like a cap for keeping hair covered and in place. That's an attention to useful detail that's practically unforeseen in mainstream Muslim fashion offerings.

The collaboration also capitalizes on the signature strengths of each partner: Uniqlo is known for its high-performance technical fabrics, and the hijabs and headbands are made from "Airism," a breathable, moisture-wicking fabric designed specially for the collection. You can imagine the practical implications of a high-performance headscarf in places like the Gulf countries, where hijabi women often contend with 100-degree-plus temperatures. 

"Uniqlo's fabric expertise was literally the first thing I thought of when they approached me for the collection," said Tajima. "Since Muslim fashion tends to involve more fabric, it’s especially important that those fabrics are breathable."

Plus, Uniqlo's advertising campaign includes both Muslim and non-Muslim women, unlike Dolce & Gabbana's glossy campaign, which featured only white models, as HuffPost has written previously. The model Yuna is Malaysian Muslim, while the other model is not, Tajima told HuffPost.

Finally, at risk of stating the obvious, it's a feat for a collection of "modest fashion" to be both modest and fashionable. Although the offerings are diverse, they do have options to cover ankles, neck, hair -- or not. But a Muslim woman could find suitably modest clothes anywhere; the reason to try Uniqlo's is that they're actually chic. They're made in a lush palette of marigold, taupe and avocado-green; the skirts and dresses are elegantly draped; and the patterns are subtle and wearable.

It took the fashion world a few tries, but we're going to go out on a limb and say Uniqlo just showed the fashion world what a Muslim fashion collection should look like in 2016.

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Ever wonder what your favorite literary characters would have in their Netflix queue? Well, wonder no more, because London-based artist Vitoria Bas has figured it all out. And she's even illustrated it.

In her two-part series, she shows what each Harry Potter character has "Recently Watched" on Netflix. She cites her own watching habits as inspiration. 

"I turned on my Netflix and it was just on the page, like the 'Recently Watched' page," Bas said. "It was some kind of random stuff but somehow it said exactly who I was as a person."

Bas is ever the Potter-head. Her last series featured the imagined Instagram accounts of her favorite Harry Potter characters.

When asked how she comes up with each of the movies in the characters' queue, she said: "When you're this much of a nerd, these kinds of Harry Potter thoughts just come to you naturally."

The Brazilian-born artist grew up watching and reading Harry Potter. She initially had her reservations about going to see the first film, since she was only 7 years old and the movie poster looked terrifying to her. But she ended up completely hooked by the end.

"It was probably the worst mistake of my life, because now I can't shut up about Harry Potter to this day," Bas said.

She is currently studying illustration and graphic design at Central St. Martins in the heart of London and says she now no longer considers the British food from the books so fantastical.

Check out the whole series on SparkNotes. 

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Four and three and two and ... our favorite small-screen duo is back! 

Season 3 of the Comedy Central hit "Broad City," starring Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer as two single women toking, loving and living in the big city, premieres Wednesday night. Based on the previews, we can expect more Abbi-Ilana love, irreverent humor and the spot-on portrayal of what its like to be a semiprofessional millennial just trying to have a good time.

If one new episode isn't enough, try one of these eight books on for size while you wait for the next one. They capture mid-20s malaise, female friendship and raucous, low-budget New York living in the same shades as "Broad City." 

Interesting, hilarious women on TV and in print? We'll let Ilana take it from here to explain how we feel.

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As the erosion of our ocean's coral reef rapidly worsens, sculptor Jason Decaires Taylor is taking an unconventional approach to replenishing the ecosystem. In the video above, take a look at the beautiful sculptures Taylor is installing underwater to help encourage underwater life while also exploring the boundaries of art.

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Netflix, aka God's gift to the world. 

Who doesn't enjoy a Friday night in, cuddling up with a cozy blanket (or companion) while enjoying all that the entertainment world has to offer. Looking for a new show to binge-watch? Plenty of suggestions on Netflix. Eager to watch that movie you never saw in theaters? Netflix probably has it. Just plain bored? Netflix will cure your misery!

So, never feel ashamed of being a Netflix enthusiast -- there's more perks to the title than you think. For example ...

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Finding success as an actress wasn't easy for Gina Torres, particularly when it came to navigating numerous barriers she faced in the industry due to her racial background. 

The Cuban-American "Suits" star looked back on the many obstacles in her 25-year career as an actress during a conversation with HuffPost Live on Tuesday, and explained the coded language she often heard after being turned down for a role.  

There are too many to count. I have been doing this for 25 years, and in that time span, there are way too many to count. And they're very slick about it. They can't really say that out loud, but you know what it is because they go a "different way." And then you see it done and you see what the different way was each and every time. And it was the white way.

But she says she stayed resilient despite the hurdles, and looked to trailblazing actresses of color like Rita Moreno and Diane Carroll for inspiration.

"I could crawl up into a ball in a corner and cry, or I could just go to the next one and prove them wrong. And here I am sitting with you, 25 years later," she told host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani.

Having experienced the lack of diversity in the film and TV industry firsthand, Torres said she's glad to finally see people taking the issue seriously. 

"We've been talking about change for the last 100 years, honestly -- you know, whether it's the images that are put out there or the lack of images that are put out there, and it's time," she said. "Of course it's changed, but has it changed as rapidly as we would like it to change? No. You're up against a great deal of learned behavior, a great deal of a systemic kind of prejudice. That is hard to unravel."

While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new pledge to increase diversity among Academy members last month, not every step towards inclusivity may have to be so prescriptive. Torres urged both writers and casting directors to simply broaden their perspectives.

"It's not that you have to write something black or write something Latino -- just write something and hire the actor. Bring all the actors in, not just white," Torres said. "Don't just assume that because it's not specifically white or black that a person of color can't play that part, because that's obscene and that's absurd. There are so many gifted people out there of color."

Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with actress Gina Torres here. 

Want more HuffPost Live? Stream us anytime on Go90, Verizon's mobile social entertainment network, and listen to our best interviews on iTunes.

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Could this flipbook marriage proposal be any flippin' cuter? We didn't think so.

Artist Ben Zurawski -- a.k.a. The Flippist -- created the hand-drawn booklet for a Durham, North Carolina couple named Nick and Natalie. The twist? Instead of doing a traditional flipbook in chronological order, Zurawski imagined and illustrated the couple's life together in reverse -- starting with them old and gray, then working backwards to raising kids and ending with the marriage proposal itself. 

"I made plans to propose in San Francisco, and contacted The Flippist to help me put into pictures what I had difficulty putting into words, which seems so simple now: 'I want to grow old with you,'" Nick told The Huffington Post. 

After a dinner at Morton's steakhouse, Nick popped the question to Natalie near the Bay Bridge in March 2015. Needless to say the flipbook was a huge hit. 

Nick was the one who came up with the idea of a flipbook in reverse and presented it to Ben, who fell in love with the concept. After several weeks of back-and-forth emails and a number of rough sketches, The Flippist arrived at the finished product you see above. 

"It was a new challenge to figure out how to draw the couple as much older versions of themselves," the artist told HuffPost. "I definitely grew some new brain cells trying to figure out how to animate the kids reverse aging and handing each other off as they shrink."

Nick sent over photos of his dad and Natalie's mom so that Ben could get a feel for what they might look like in their later years. 

"Weirdly enough I also studied pictures of Ron Howard since he was a child actor and there are pictures of him throughout his life," Ben added. "It helped me to study facial changes."

To see more of the artist's work, head over to his website or watch this flipbook proposal compilation video.

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After her relationship ended last spring, Brooklyn-based graphic artist Isabella Giancarlo couldn't shake the words she and her ex exchanged during the breakup. 

"For me, a loss of appetite typically accompanies the end of a relationship so I thought, how could I sweeten words that initially took my appetite away?" she told HuffPost.

The answer to that question is Eat Your Heart Out, a witty -- and totally delicious looking -- photo series that uses cakes and pies to tell breakup stories. 

Initially, Giancarlo used her own words of heartbreak as inspiration, but soon enough, friends and strangers began submitting stories on her site. 

"The most common response when people see the photos is 'oof' or a smile and cringe," she said. 

"You don't need to understand the intricacies of a relationship to feel the weight of the final words on the pies and cakes," Giancarlo told us. "It shows that heartbreak is pretty universal in that it's not limited by age, race, sex or sexuality."

See more photos below and check out the artist's Instagram to see the series unfold.

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I'm just gonna go ahead and say that the ISS might just be the greatest photography vantage point ever.

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