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

Shia LaBeouf Is Going On A 24-Hour Elevator Ride For Art

0
0



Shia LaBeouf is taking a stand for art -- literally. 


The "Fury" actor is riding in an Oxford, U.K., elevator for 24 hours and live-streaming the entire thing. LaBeouf tweeted about his project, called #Elevate, early Friday morning and gave out the exact address so people can find and ride with him. 


His YouTube live stream of the event can be seen in the video above. 






So far, people standing in the elevator have talked about their heroes, Harper Lee's death and certain performance art pieces they've liked. 


Though there are limited visuals (hello, elevator doors!) we caught LaBeouf talking about himself being a "self-hater" and loving the little kid (actor Abraham Attah) in "Beasts of No Nation." 


Later on in the night, LaBeouf will give a talk at Oxford Union.


We can't wait to see what comes out of this project.





 


Also on HuffPost: 



-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.












Harper Lee's Death Mourned By Readers, Celebs And The Literary World

0
0

Harper Lee's death at the age of 89 hit the literary world, not to mention all those who've been touched by her writing, hard on Friday.


Despite having not written a new book since To Kill a Mockingbird over half a century ago, and having barely interacted with the press or public for decades, the deeply private author had found herself repeatedly the focus of media attention in recent years.


She became embroiled in a high-profile spat with Marja Mills, an author who published an account of her time as Harper and Alice Lee's neighbor in 2014, claiming that Mills' representation of the book as authorized by the Lees was false. In 2015, her publisher, HarperCollins, produced a second novel by Lee, Go Set a Watchman -- a book published from an old, rediscovered manuscript that some feared Lee hadn't properly signed off on. Just last week, literary onlookers were bemused by the announcement that successful TV writer Aaron Sorkin planned to adapt Mockingbird for a Broadway play.


Despite her advanced age, and the ill health that had recently troubled her, Lee seemed a fixture in the American literary scene, constantly at the forefront despite her dislike for the spotlight and her resistance to writing new work. 


It should be no surprise, then, that the reaction to her death, as witnessed on social media, was visceral and widespread. Readers from every walk of life, including authors, lawyers, journalists, actors, comedians and even pop stars expressed their sorrow. Publishers and other staples of the literary scene also paid tribute. The author's own publisher, HarperCollins, tweeted a statement on Lee's death:






But Lee's life was also a long and fruitful one, and many fans also chose to pay their respects with a more lighthearted tone, celebrating her many years of living. Some even snuck in jabs at her publisher and oft-maligned legal team, who have been accused of taking advantage of her compromised health to push out an old manuscript, Watchman, as a profit grab. 


No matter the manner of the tribute, however, as reactions poured in from every corner of the social media landscape, each message reaffirmed Lee's power as a writer to touch and inspire us all. Rest in peace, Harper Lee.























































































































































#harperlee

A photo posted by Cracked Eye (@crackedeye) on





-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











'The Witch' Conjures Up A Chilly, Must-See Tale Of Puritan Horrors

0
0

Around this time last year, anyone monitoring the chatter pouring out of Sundance knew "The Witch" was the festival's primo sleeper. Its esteem happened organically, without any star power or pre-festival buzz. Robert Eggers' assured directorial debut, set a few decades before the Salem witch trials and subtitled "A New England Folktake," was an unbridled Sundance success story. "A star is born," the industry seemed to say of Eggers and his collective cast. When the movie opens this weekend, we mortals will follow suit.


Eggers, a former production designer who also wrote the script, approached "The Witch" as a historical fantasy. It could be seen as a prologue to "The Crucible." After studying Puritan diaries, agricultural literature and folktales about villages' local occult anxieties, he devised the story of a devout family cast off to the edge of a 1630s township for not being the right kind of devout. The particulars of their conflict with the community leaders are vague, but the religious tussle forces them to settle in a remote woodland plagued by gray skies and dying crops.


Nestled on the outskirts of the sparse plantation grounds where the central clan take up residence, a forest invites certain horror-movie enigmas: Are the villains the characters or the supernatural forces surrounding them? Is the family's paranoia unfounded? Why does our blood curdle at the mere suggestion of demonic purchase? And what role does religion play in our cultural phobias?


The film's events ultimately unfold from the perspective of the eldest daughter, a wide-eyed teenage girl named Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy, newly 18 when the film began production) whose infant brother vanishes as she closes her eyes during an afternoon game of peek-a-boo. (Unbeknownst to the family but refreshingly transparent for the audience, a long-haired forest hag is seen smearing the child's blood across her flesh.)


The news renders Thomasin's relatives -- a younger brother and even younger twin siblings, along with her impulsive mother ("Game of Thrones" actress Kate Dickie) and deceptively collected father ("Game of Thrones" actor Ralph Ineson) -- distraught and dubious. The rest of the movie, crawling with hair-raising eeriness instead of overt frights, chronicles the family's descent into finger-pointing paranoia. Upon the first suggestion of devilish influences, all hope is abandoned. Even the animals, particularly a nefarious goat named Black Phillip, become players in this war on terror. 



As a kid, Eggers loved old-school horror -- not the jump-scare kind popularized in the 1970s, but the nebulous creature fear of "Frankenstein," "The Mummy" and "Dracula." His interest in witchcraft dates back to his first viewing of "The Wizard of Oz." Combining the genre's classic trappings with the subjugation of women's bodies that was inherent during the 1600s' witch hysteria, Eggers found his own protagonist in an iron-willed girl contending with self-doubt and sudden exile. Even the film's score, by Mark Korven, is grounded in history, using period-appropriate instruments to repurpose a cappella Puritan psalms.


"Thomasin, for me, really does exemplify women in that time," Taylor-Joy told The Huffington Post at Sundance last year, during a joint interview with Eggers. "It’s just like the corsets: You keep it in, you don’t let it show. She doesn’t have that support system that you’d like her to have. I find it really entertaining to hear people say 'horror film,' because obviously it is, it’s a genre horror film, but for us in the cast, it’s really a story of family breakdown and isolation and guilt and religious piety. We’ve all been in situations where things get so bad that you really stop feeling."


The imperious theocracy that incites the family's ouster and inspires their panic is also what prompted a recent endorsement from the Satanic Temple, a "civic-minded" branch of Satanism founded in 2013. In a rare move that has yet to attract much controversy, A24 -- the trendy distribution studio that acquired "The Witch" at Sundance -- partnered with the Satanic Temple to host screenings of the film followed by after-parties that incorporated miniature ritual worship sessions. Despite religious undertones having divided audiences in the past (think evangelists flocking to the allegedly anti-Semitic "Passion of the Christ," or Christian groups protesting the lucrative "Da Vinci Code" and arguing over the messages in "God's Not Dead"), A24 reached out to the Satanic Temple to gauge interest in a movie whose themes "may resonate," as the temple's spokeswoman, Jex Blackmore, told HuffPost. The studio covered the costs of events that the Satanic Temple has hosted in New York, Los Angeles, Austin and Detroit. 



Regarding the Satanic Church's attraction to the film, Blackmore cited the "fetishization" of a time when Puritan law attempted to "control nature," as well as certain contemporary desires to "return to Christian values that America was founded on" -- a frequent mantra of right-wing presidential candidates and religious fundamentalists. 


"What’s most terrifying about the film is there are things about 'The Witch' that aren’t supernatural," Blackmore said. "They’re actually real claims made about people during this period who were outsiders. It’s our hope that not only will it ask people to consider questions about separation of church and state, and questions about the fetishization of early America, but also it shows us that under those unnatural pressures, we will eventually rebel, and take to that as a positive note, rather than a negative."


Blackmore hasn't spoken with Eggers, but she said he's aware of the Satanic Temple's endorsement. It seems unlikely that the group's fervor -- or that of horror superintendent Stephen King -- will affect the box office. Early forecasts expect a decent haul for a talky art-house chiller original slated for a lower-profile rollout. As the first project in A24's four-year history to debut in wide release, the film is projected to earn $10 million across its first three days in theaters. (The studio's most lucrative titles are "Spring Breakers," "Ex Machina" and "Room.")


Positive reviews aside, seeing a number that impressive would surely be a boon for Eggers, who called the Northern Ontario-based "Witch" shoot "difficult" and "rugged." (Imagine working with a "nightmare" of a goat while filming almost exclusively outdoors.) Eggers is attached to a "Nosferatu" reboot, pointing to a career defined by the same atmospheric Gothic horror that influenced him. But for now, Eggers can rest assured that he's made the buzziest title from last year's Sundance that isn't named "Brooklyn" -- and, for a first-time director, that's a feat.


"It was rough," Eggers said of making the film. "There were long hours, everyone worked very hard, but I couldn’t imagine never having been through that. It was so special. These are my favorite people in the entire world. The film shows that; you can see how much went into it."





 


Also on HuffPost:



-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











With 'Uncontrolled,' Singer Matt Doyle Gets Sleek, Sexy -- And Brutally Honest

0
0



On his new album, “Uncontrolled,” Matt Doyle isn’t shy about pointing out a few of his battle scars, but he’s ultimately empowered by the loss of love, too.


Nowhere is that more apparent than in “Moment,” the album’s rock-driven first single. Doyle said the song, which was released Feb. 19, was inspired by his struggle with severe depression last spring. The accompanying video, which can be viewed above, has a much sexier vibe, and shows Doyle reconnecting with an ex-lover (played by Erik Altemus) in a New York hotel room for a woozy tryst.


While Doyle has always been open about his sexuality, his latest work may surprise fans familiar with his roles in Broadway’s “Spring Awakening” and “The Book of Mormon,” which cultivated a squeaky-clean image. With “Uncontrolled,” the New York-based actor-singer casts that boy-next-door image aside in favor of brutal honesty. Still, he hasn’t forgotten his cheeky sense of fun, as evidenced by the album’s promotional imagery, in which he shows off his chiseled physique.



“I have to be truthful and write music about my own experiences,” the 28-year-old told The Huffington Post in an interview. As for his decision to cast his pal Altemus in the video, he added, “I don’t think it’s necessarily about standing on a soapbox and saying, ‘I’m gay,’ but if I’m writing songs that are coming from an honest place in my life, I’m certainly not going to make a video with a woman [as a love interest].”


Both the album and the video make it easy to see why collaborators like “Moment” co-director Tony Marion are quick to praise Doyle as “one of the most generous creatives working in theater.” While Doyle has always maintained music as a side project to his theater work, “Uncontrolled” is his first full-length album, and represents his most profound effort as a singer-songwriter to date. He began writing songs last year while starring in the Seattle production of the off-Broadway musical, “Jasper in Deadland.” Although, his show was playing to enthusiastic audiences, Doyle reveals that he was struggling behind the scenes.


“I felt very lonely, and there were a lot of things I just wasn’t doing for myself,” he said. “Broadway has been very good to me; theater has been very good to me. But the album was more about setting creative things up in my life outside of that, that I can do on my own.”



Following a massively successful Kickstarter campaign, Doyle was back in the studio last fall, collaborating with his longtime musical director, Will Van Dyke, as well as Nashville-based musicians Joel Heumann, Tina Parole and Jason Gantt. In many respects, “Uncontrolled” picks up where his two previous EPs leave off, but boasts a polished veneer and feels more sonically cohesive. 


There are joyous moments on the 13-track pop-rock album, such as the ‘50s-influenced “Fall For Me,” and rousing covers of Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” and Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” which can be heard below. 





On a somber note, “When I Let You Go” is a standout ballad that recalls Doyle’s very public breakup with fellow Broadway performer, Ryan Steele. Still, writing a song about being a “jilted ex-boyfriend” wasn’t his intention. “I wish him nothing but the best,” he said. “And I know that he feels the same way, too.”


Following the Feb. 26 release of “Uncontrolled,” Doyle will celebrate the album with a special concert at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge three days later. After that, he wants to take the album on the road, and hopes to line up performances in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other cities. 


But no matter where Doyle heads next, one thing’s for certain: “Uncontrolled” is the perfect breakout in establishing him as a formidable, charismatic artist.



 


Also on HuffPost: 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











Viral Star Brendan Jordan Comes Out As 'One Of The Trans Community'

0
0



Viral dancing sensation Brendan Jordan has come out as a member of the transgender community. 


The 16-year-old, who catapulted to fame in 2014 after diva-bombing a newscaster while dancing to a Lady Gaga song in Las Vegas, made the announcement Feb. 14 at the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Time to Thrive conference in Grapevine, Texas, shortly before introducing transgender fashion model, Andreja Pejić


"I’m starting to identify as one, or as part, of the trans community," Jordan told the crowd (watch in the video above). "I can’t really label it, because, you know, some days, my more feminine side comes out — the 'she.' Some other days I don’t feel like putting on my fabulous mask, and the 'he' comes out, and I’m totally OK with that."


Jordan continued: "I don’t know who I am, or where I will be going in the future, who I will be 10 years from now, but I’m still a teenager...I just identify with both genders, so I go by the pronouns he or she, and it’s just what I’m happy with."


On Feb. 18, Jordan re-iterated the lack of a pronoun preference on Twitter:  






Jordan later responded to another Twitter user by clarifying:  






So proud to see you continuing to live an authentic life, Brendan! 


Also on HuffPost: 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











We Have One Big Question For Everyone Behind The Met Logo Redesign

0
0

I have fond memories of my first sweaty summer in New York, my teenage self loitering around the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, waiting for a sophisticated Manhattan couple to kindly pass on their used Met buttons to me and my equally broke best friend. After our museum visit, we'd consciously forget to remove the buttons, wearing the iconic M's proudly as we ventured into Brooklyn and beyond, screaming "we are cultured!" silently through our unmistakable badges. 


And so, like much of the Internet, I was appalled to see The Met had replaced the image I had come to associate with history, culture, wonder and Fifth Avenue hot dogs, was no longer. Instead, we get this. 






The new logo, set to be officially unveiled on March 1 and the work of London-based global-branding firm Wolff Olins, shocked many human people with eyes when Vulture's Justin Davidson revealed the image along with a solid bashing of it earlier this week. 


"If I had to respond to this with one word," typography icon Alan Peckolick told The Huffington Post in a phone conversation, "it would be, 'Why?'"


Peckolick -- the man behind legendary logos including Revlon and New York University, but definitely not the new Met design -- broke his one-word response down into two sub-questions. The first: "Why did you do this?" 


The Met's previous logo, established in 1971, is based on an actual piece in the museum's collection: a woodcut by Luca Pacioli, a collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci. As Davidson explains in his article, the masterful logo "could be an architectural plan -- the museum’s great hall contains three square chambers topped by circular vaults. Or it could represent a diagram of a Raphael composition, or the proportional geometries of Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man."


Peckolick was similarly taken with the original image. "The Met logo was a beautiful logo -- a classic. Like any great logo, it suggests what it represents. It is classic." 


From Peckolick's perspective, the rebranding was an attempt at doing something that shouldn’t have been done in the first place. "I think first of all, when you change a logo, it has to move forward," he explained. "The branding, the understanding of what the logo represents ... In this case, I think they went back -- way back."










Which brings us to Peckolick's second question: "Why did you do that?"


While The Met's previous logo, in all its simplicity, contained echoes of art, history and architecture, the new logo looks like it's catering to a cosmetics line in the 1980s. "The new Met logo looks like an old one -- but an old what?" Peckolick said. "I don’t get from it that it’s a museum, that it’s something artful."


The worst graphic detail of the logo, according to Peckolick, is the way the E and T are smushed together, bombarding the viewer's eye with a flood of red. "It looks like someone dropped a blob of ink on the page. It overpowers everything else."


In a statement released Thursday, The Met announced the new logo, alluding to the criticism already surrounding it. "The new logo no longer relies on symbols and, instead, is based on the commonly used name ‘The Met,’ which has an immediacy that speaks to all audiences," the statement said.



It is an original drawing, a hybrid that combines and connects serif and sans serif, classical and modern letterforms. In this respect, it reflects the scope of the Museum’s collection and the connections that exist within it.



The idea, unfortunately, did not translate. "I question the concept of the typeface -- its not contemporary, not classic," Peckolick said. "I don’t think it brings anything to the party. It looks like a hundred faces I’ve seen before."


"I’m known for destroying and distilling type faces in my work," he added, "but they way they did it, I think they destroyed the integrity of whatever typeface it was by manipulating it. This doesn’t say anything about art. They took a beautiful, classic image and they threw it away."


Also on HuffPost:



-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











Oprah Pays Tribute To Harper Lee, Her 'First Favorite Author'

0
0

Oprah joined the countless literary fans mourning the loss of To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee, who died on Friday at age 89. In a tweet, Oprah called Lee her "first favorite author."






Though the famously reclusive author chose not to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" during its 25-year run, she once agreed to meet up with Oprah for a private lunch. In the video below, Oprah reflects on their meal together.





Related:Harper Lee's death mourned by readers, celebs and the literary world


 


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











Justin Sayre Explores The Ins And Outs Of Gay Tinder Dating

0
0



In his new video for HuffPost Queer Voices, writer-performer Justin Sayre opens up about a Tinder date gone sour. 


Sayre offers a tongue-in-cheek take on the struggles of navigating a generation gap digitally.   


"I'd love to say this to all the young people," Sayre quips. "I want to put a Diana Ross LP in your hands and say, 'Welcome to the world, my child! This will get you through some hard times.'" 


Sayre's "International Order of Sodomites" (I.O.S.) gathers once a month for "The Meeting," a variety show honoring an artist or a cultural work that is iconic to the gay community. The next installment of "The Meeting" hits Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in New York on Feb. 21 and is dedicated to the iconic musical, "Cabaret." 


Special guests slated to perform are Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and Nathan Lee Graham


In other news, Sayre has also launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for "Love's Refrain," his new play at New York's LaMaMa. 


Meanwhile, the latest episode of "Sparkle & Circulate with Justin Sayre," the official I.O.S. podcast, has just been released, featuring an interview with "Difficult People" actor, Cole Escola.  


You can also view some previous performances from "The Meeting" on Sayre's official YouTube page. For more Sayre, head to Facebook and Twitter.


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.












Nanette Lepore Hosted The Most Fun Show Of New York Fashion Week

0
0

New York FashionWeek seems glamourousThe clothes! The celebrities! The clothes! But as anyone who has ever attended the bi-annual event (and isn't Anna Wintour) can tell you, there's typically a lot of waiting in line and navigating crowds.


This season, Nanette Lepore turned that notion on its head by instead hosting what looks like the sexiest tea party of all time. On Thursday the designer showed off her collection at a presentation that was "inspired by a tea time journey with a mix of alluring prints, plush tweeds and delicate boudoir inspired lace," according to the brand. 



Hosted in conjunction with the swanky Baccarat Hotel in New York City, guests sipped on tea and Champagne while models, including Lepore's daughter Violet, wore her Fall/Winter 2016 collection.



It's almost tea time with @violetsavage at the @baccarathotels #nyfw #fw16

A photo posted by Nanette Lepore (@nanettelepore) on




The designer has always added a bit of fun and flair to her shows, so the decision to host a tea party is not so surprising. 



Fashion, fun and fizzy drinks? Sounds like a Fashion Week dream to us.


 



 


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











Confused Why Women Don’t Report Sexual Assault? Ask Kesha.

0
0

On Friday afternoon, a judge ruled against Kesha's request to be released from her contract with Sony. That contract commits the 28-year-old pop star to making six more albums with the company, and thus linked to a producer she says sexually assaulted her.


In 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald), whose production company is part of Sony. According to Billboard, the lawsuit detailed Kesha's claims that Dr. Luke had abused her for years, forcing her to snort drugs, giving her "sober pills" and raping her. Since then, she has been in a protracted legal battle with the producer, trying to extricate herself from her contract with him.


Kesha is a wealthy, beautiful, white celebrity working at the upper echelons of an elite industry. Yet, even these privileges don't set her apart from other victims of sexual abuse who face a justice system that often doesn't protect them. Her story sheds light on why rape remains one of the most grossly underreported crimes. 


Women (and men) often wait years to speak up about sexual abuse. Consider Bill Cosby's victims, some of whom didn't feel safe coming forward until multiple decades had passed. Still, that fact doesn't stop people from questioning why victims don't come forward sooner and suggesting their hesitance makes them liars. 






The truth is that there are few incentives to coming forward with an allegation of sexual assault. It means having to recount a trauma over and over again, to people who may not even believe that what you say happened actually happened. It means facing the judgments of those closest to you, and in Kesha's case, the judgments of the public who determine the success of her career. It means being picked apart, as people try to find just how "perfect" a victim you are. It may mean dealing with law enforcement officials and members of a jury who have been socialized to believe myths about rape.


"You've already been violated," Madonna told Howard Stern last year when he asked why she never reported a violent assault to the police in the late 1970s. "It's just not worth it. It's too much humiliation."


And most of the time, even after all of that "humiliation," an abuser will never see the inside of a jail cell. According to RAINN, just 2 percent of rapists serve jail time, and though it's somewhat easier to win a civil suit than a criminal one, nothing is guaranteed. 


At least in 2016, the court of public opinion can provide some support to women and men who come forward with sexual assault allegations. Today the hashtags #FreeKesha and #SonySupportsRape were trending, with people all over the world using their Internet voices to speak out on Kesha's behalf. Of course, these hashtags won't change the outcome of her case.


Kesha came forward with her allegations. She made them public. She has been put through the wringer -- emotionally, physically and professionally. But the distance she desires from her alleged abuser is still out of her reach. 


This sends a message to victims that coming forward means running the risk of losing a lot and gaining little. What kind of "justice" is that? 


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











Umberto Eco Dead At 84; Italian Philosopher Wrote 'The Name Of The Rose'

0
0

Umberto Eco, the revered Italian writer and philosopher best known for The Name Of The Rose, died at age 84 on Friday, Italian media reported.


Eco's death was confirmed by a statement attributed to unnamed family members given to the newspaper La Repubblica. The relatives said he died at his home, but provided no further details. Eco's U.S. publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, confirmed his death in a statement, according to NPR. HuffPost was unable to reach the publisher.


Born in in 1932 in Alessandria, Italy, Eco achieved worldwide acclaim for his work in semiotics -- the study of signs and symbols and how they are used -- and his extensive written works. As an academic, he wrote on semiotics, medieval aesthetics, linguistics and philosophy.


But it was his fiction that carried his name around the world.


"I’ve always thought of myself as a scholar who, at a certain point, began to write novels on the weekend ... in the summer," Eco told Publisher's Weekly.



 The Name Of The Rose, his 1980 historical murder mystery, was his most popular novel, selling more than 10 million copies. It was later made into a movie starring Sean Connery. He wrote several other novels, including Foucault's Pendulum. His latest work, Number Zero, was published in 2015. Eco also authored several children's books.


Eco served as a Norton professor at Harvard University from 1992 to 1993, and taught semiotics at Bologna University. 



Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi expressed sorrow at the news of Eco's death, and his appreciation for the writer's work.


"A huge loss for culture, which will miss his writing and voice, his sharp and living thought, his humanity," Renzi said.


Eco is survived by a wife and two children.


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Remembering Scout, The Real Hero Of Harper Lee’s 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

0
0

The deeply influential and remarkably private author Harper Lee died yesterday, and readers responded with touching reflections on her life and work. Because Lee was notorious for declining interviews and closely guarding the details of her personal life, to celebrate her is to celebrate her writing. And to celebrate her writing, most critics and fans would agree, is to celebrate To Kill a Mockingbird, the only novel she’d ever published until a prequel-sequel was released last year, with dubious consent on Lee’s part.


Before the publication of Go Set a Watchman, Lee was praised by high school English teachers and other American literature lovers for her creation of Atticus Finch, a kind yet stern father who wields the book of law like a valiant weapon, all in the name of justice. So when Watchmen revealed a darker side of the character, one muddied by bigoted beliefs, readers felt bamboozled.


Even if we can’t unknow the reality of Lee’s once-laudable Atticus, there’s a lot to enjoy, and unpack, in her classic novel -- namely the gutsy, complex actions of another character who’s too-often overlooked as the book’s true heart. While we now know Atticus to be an unquestioning supporter of certain societal norms, his plucky daughter, Scout, questions everything, allowing the reader to do the same. Lee’s choice -- or rather, her editor’s -- to narrate the story from her still-congealing perspective is what gives the story its uniquely powerful shape.


Stories told from the vantage point of kids -- that is, not yet fully socialized adults -- are tricky. On one hand, they allow us to look at the world around us through curious, unfocused eyes, raising questions about traditions and judgments we’ve accepted as normal. 


On the other hand, an ignorant narrator can make for a pretty straightforward plot, devoid of nuance and full of myopic observations. Anyone who read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time post-high school knows what I’m talking about. Kids are brilliant, yes, but they’re also stubborn, whiny and self-centered -- not exactly the best companions to cozy up with for 200 or so pages. 




Scout breaks rules, wears unladylike clothes, and speaks when she’s not supposed to. It’s easy to imagine her future as a subversive performance artist, or a headstrong petitioner for women’s rights.


Harper Lee seems to have agreed with this, and her pesky, thoughtful young narrator is that much better for it. Scout breaks rules, wears unladylike clothes, and speaks when she’s not supposed to. It’s easy to imagine her future as a subversive performance artist, or a headstrong petitioner for women’s rights. But Lee graces her character with negative qualities, too; her stubbornness is a double-edged sword. At the book’s start she makes snap judgments about her less fortunate classmates and her insistent aunt, who’s appalled by Scout’s outfit choices. 


In spite of her wiliness, Scout’s defining characteristic is her persistent desire to ask questions rather than make assumptions. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, she’s hemmed in by the declarative demands of others; Mrs. Caroline insists that she shouldn’t read, Jem insists that she shouldn’t eat fruit found near the Radley’s place; Aunt Alexandra insists that she should act more ladylike. Sometimes, Scout rebels against these structures by forging her own path, but often, before she does so, she asks questions, hoping to understand matters for herself.


Atticus, conversely, speaks like a walking rulebook. You’ll find more periods in his lines of dialogue than question marks, indicating a steadfastness of thought. Compared with Scout, the slangy, wild child who gives the story its voice, he’s more symbolic than human -- which made him easy to valorize. His ability to speak assuredly is admirable in the eyes of 8-year-old scout -- and thus, anyone reading a book told from her perspective -- but such in-the-lines thinking doesn’t make for a dynamic character, or a character open to racial progress, either. This is especially clear now that Lee’s Watchman has pulled back the curtain on the sordid, human contradictions within him, but a close reading of the earlier book reveals that Scout might’ve been the more progressive, and therefore more admirable, character all along.


Atticus might have boldly defended Tom Robinson, but he chuckles about women not being able to serve on the jury (what a gas that’d be!). He asserts that within the walls of a courtroom, all men are equal -- but asserts also that “some people are smarter than others […] some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than other.” Some people, he seems to say, are born better, nurture over nature be damned.   


While Scout internalizes some of this hierarchical thinking, she pushes back against it, too. By Atticus’s implied standards, she’s born to bake cakes rather than make money, but she would rather roll around in a junky tire than spruce herself up in a pretty dress. In reading To Kill a Mockingbird, we get to see which social standards cement, and which she’s able to leave her own mark on while the pavement’s still wet.


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Get An Intimate Look At Queer Life In Japan

0
0



"Queer Japan," a powerful new documentary currently in production, examines queer art, culture and activism in the Asian island nation.


Because many of the images and ideas about queer culture that Americans are typically most familiar with tend to originate from a Western perspective, Graham Kolbeins and Anne Ishii want their film to provide an authentic representation of what it means to be queer in Japan.


The pair, who have been working together for years editing anthologies of gay and feminist manga, are focusing this new project on individuals like drag queen, artist, and film critic Vivienne Sato, gay manga master and art historian Gengoroh Tagame, and feminist manko (pussy) artist Rokudenashiko and her fight against obscenity charges for her work -- just to name a few.


The Huffington Post talked with Kolbeins this week about "Queer Japan" and the project's Kickstarter, as well as what he and Ishii are trying to accomplish with the film.



The Huffington Post: Why did you decide to do this project?


Graham Kolbeins: There's an incredibly rich queer culture in Japan with fascinating histories behind it, but people outside of Japan (and within) rarely hear about it. My interest in the subject began when I was came across images of work by gay manga artists like Gengoroh Tagame and Jiraiya as a teenager. Their artwork opened worlds of possibility for me, providing depictions of homosexuality that I could relate to more than anything I'd seen in Western gay media at the time. Since 2012, Anne Ishii and I have had the privilege of working with those same artists to help spread their work in North America and around the world, through art shows, fashion collections, and manga anthologies (The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame and Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It). 


The work Anne and I have been doing at MASSIVE GOODS has led us to explore gender and sexuality in Japan in a broader sense. Recently we've expanded beyond the gay manga genre to work with artists like Rokudenashiko, who is currently on trial for obscenity charges related to her 3D-printed vagina art. The more I learned about these quietly revolutionary queer individuals in Japan, the more I wanted to share these stories with the world, and that lead to the idea of doing a documentary on the subject. 



Tell me more about the people you are highlighting in the film.


So far we've shot interviews with drag queen, film critic, "non-architect" and all-around renaissance woman Vivienne Sato; gay manga master and historian Gengoroh Tagame, along with his G-men magazine co-founder, community leader, and HIV activist Hiroshi Hasegawa; visual artist Nogi Sumiko; Atsushi Matsuda, a dancer in the Butoh group DAIRAKUDAKAN; controversial manko [pussy] artist Rokudenashiko; and countryside bar owner/queer theorist Masaki C. Matsumoto. We'd like to follow these peoples' stories and continue expanding the film's scope over a five month shoot to include as many queer people in Japan as possible.



What is unique about queer culture in Japan? How is it different from the rest of the world?


Global and local influences are deeply intertwined in Japan's queer culture. If you look back to the Edo Period, an entire genre of literature and art based on male-male courtship flourished, called shudo ("The way of youth"). Hundreds of books, including the poet Saikaku's bestselling 1687 short story collection, "The Great Mirror of Male Love," were published and if you were a wealthy male, a member of the clergy, or a beautiful adolescent boy (bishonen), your homosexual relations were generally accepted by society. That all changed after Japan's doors were forcibly opened to Western trade by America in the mid-19th century. The era of rapid modernization that followed did away with "uncivilized" things of the Japanese past including shudo, and soon medico-scientific models that pathologized queer sexualities were imported from Germany and elsewhere. 


During the U.S. Occupation of Japan following the second World War, censorship and restrictions on the press were lifted and a new gay culture emerged. Dozens of gay bars opened up in the cities and the gei boi (gay boys) who worked there, often in drag, were widely reported on in the Japanese press, decades before the word "gay" was used widely in American discourse. Media representation and physical spaces for gay, lesbian, and transgender people continued to evolve over the 20th century, largely independent from Western influence. In the 1980s and 1990s, the gay rights movement went global in the wake of the AIDS crisis, and the Western terms like "LGBT" began to be used by homegrown Japanese gay rights groups like OCCUR, which was influenced by Act Up. 




Today, queer culture is both incredibly robust and hidden just beneath the surface of Japanese public life. It's rare to see public displays of affection (queer or otherwise) on the streets of Tokyo, so queer expressions aren't exactly visible -- but at the same time, gay entertainment district Shinjuku Ni-chome is home to over 120 small bars servicing all facets of the queer community. I can't think of anywhere else in the world that has so many establishments for LGBTQ+ people, and that's just one neighborhood in Tokyo! In the Japanese mainstream media, queer issues are often ignored and representations are usually limited to comic relief. But within these microcosms of queer community, the culture is flourishing.


What do you want people to take away from this film?



Mainly, I would like to introduce viewers around the world to a variety of queer people in Japan who I think are doing really inspiring things. It's important to me that this film is giving a voice to its subjects and tells their stories in a way that viewers can empathize with. I want to avoid getting too historical or theoretical in the film and focus on the reality of people's lives. In the past few years there has been a deluge of English-language articles and documentaries sensationalizing "sex in Japan" and approaching the subject from an exoticizing perspective that I find problematic. As a white foreigner, I think it's important for me to take a step back from judging Japanese sexual cultures and forcing them into a false dichotomy with the West. Instead, let's celebrate them! There is no singular "queer Japan," but in this film we hope to show a handful of the many dazzling forms gender and sexuality can take. 


Head here to visit the "Queer Japan" Kickstarter.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Dream Of Visiting Greece Through The Ages With These Vintage Posters

0
0

Greece has caught the imagination of travelers, artists and writers throughout history, but it was at the beginning of the 20th century that people’s fascination with the European country became a trend and it became a popular destination for vacations.


The Greek National Tourism Organization was founded in 1929, as part of the first organized effort to promote Greece as a destination for international travelers. One of the assets the organization resorted to were posters, the main promotional medium of the era.


Colorful images of Greek landscapes, historical monuments, lush nature and the wonders of everyday life were leveraged to entice international travelers.


While the posters may seem relatively simple by today’s standards, Greece enlisted acclaimed artists to create the images. The celebrated Greek photographer Elli Seraidari, also known as Nelly, produced the image for the first poster, which depicts the Parthenon bathed in sunlight. 



The country's experienced Greek painters like Moralis, Mytaras, Fassianos, Tsoklis and Vassiliou participated in the campaigns from the 1930s until the 1970s, depicting themes of summer, light, sea and ancient civilization.


In the 1980s, the posters got a more standard commercial character that has more or less dominated the organization's aesthetic choices since.


The catalogues of posters of each decade from 1929 to 2009 can be downloaded from the official website here.


This story originally appeared on HuffPost Greece and was translated into English


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Lock Of John Lennon's Hair Saved By Hairdresser Sells For Thousands

0
0



A lock of John Lennon's hair has sold for a record $35,000.


Heritage Auctions in Dallas sold the 4-inch tuft to U.K.-based memorabilia buyer Paul Fraser on Saturday. He plans to return it to England.


"This is the largest lock of John Lennon's hair ever offered at auction," said Garry Shrum, director of music memorabilia at Heritage, in a press release.


"And this world record price is a lasting testament to the world's more than 50-year love affair and fascination with Lennon and The Beatles."



The hair, pictured above, was reportedly clipped and saved by hairdresser Klaus Baruck in Hamburg, Germany, in 1966.


He was trimming the star's hair in preparation for Lennon's upcoming role as Pvt. Gripweed in Richard Lester's dark comedy "How I Won the War," which detailed a fictional British army troop's misadventures during World War II.


"Baruck was so excited about the opportunity to transform Lennon's famous Beatles mop top that he called the local newspaper to record the event," Heritage Auctions spokesman Eric Bradley told CNN.



The lock was sold alongside the newspaper clippings covering the historic mop chop.


A photo of Baruck holding the hair in his hand was also included in the sale. It was captioned, “Immediately picked up and tucked away: a clump of hair that had been John Lennon’s, cut yesterday.”


A signed photograph of the Fab Four also sold at the auction for $42,500, while a sealed copy of the group's 1966 album "Yesterday and Today" with a "butcher cover" fetched $125,000.


"This is by far one of the finest copies of the very limited number of 'first state' albums that were released to a small audience," Shrum said. "This copy is a worthy addition to the most advanced Beatle collections."


Also on HuffPost:




-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


Jimi Hendrix Played On An Ancient Korean Instrument Is So Damn Cool

0
0

Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" goes 1,500 years back in time with this sensational reworking.


South Korean musician Luna plays the iconic track on a gayageum, a traditional zither-like string instrument that dates back to the sixth century.





Luna said the sound made by the original Korean gayageums -- which are related to the Chinese guzheng, Japanese koto, Mongolian yatga and Vietnamese đàn tranh -- was quiet, as they were only designed to be played in small rooms.


As she likes to play contemporary music, she redeveloped her instrument to match the sounds made by modern guitars, bass and drums.


"I had to increase the volume and pressure, develop tone and increase the sustain sound," she wrote on Patreon.com.





"Playing modern music on a traditional instrument was not an easy process. I have come a long way from the beginning but still have a long way to go," she added.


The video was initially posted to YouTube in 2013 but it's now going viral -- and has racked up more than 3.9 million views. 


Hendrix isn't the only musical master she's covered in the last seven years. Here are just some of her other spectacular performances:


Elvis Presley: Love Me Tender





David Bowie: Space Oddity





Adele: Hello





Radiohead: Creep





Check out Luna's other songs via her YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts.


Also on HuffPost:




-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The 'Danish Girl' Creative Team Share Their Experiences With The Story

0
0



The creative team behind the Oscar-nominated movie, "The Danish Girl," open up about adapting the story of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe for the big screen.


David Ebershoff, who penned the novel on which the film is based, said he was "fascinated" by Elbe, but not for the reasons you'd think, in the short, which will be among the features included on the "Danish Girl" dvd, out March 1. 


"There was the whole other element about art and painting and creation," he said, "that really resonated with me." 


Director Tom Hooper felt the same way, too, calling Lucinda Coxon's screenplay "the best first draft I've ever read."


Also on HuffPost: 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Shia LaBeouf Apparently Hit A Fan In The Face For The Sake Of Art

0
0



Shia LaBeouf's latest performance piece/publicity stunt got super meta this weekend, when a fan and fellow performance artist asked the actor to punch him in the face for his own personal project. 


Sometime during LaBeouf's 24-hour elevator ride, a performance he titled "#ELEVATE," an Oxford University student walked in and made his special request. 


The exchange, which was recorded behind closed elevator doors, went something like this: 



Student: "I'm a performance artist. Can you help me with completion of my next piece by punching me in the face?"


LaBeouf: "Oh man, you want me to punch you in the face? I don’t want to punch you very hard!" 


Student: "OK, that's fine."



In a video clip of the encounter posted on YouTube Friday, the actor can be heard telling the student "I don't like doing it, though ... I just met you."


Eventually, after a little taunting -- the student tells LaBeouf not to be a "pussy" -- a slap can be heard through the elevator doors. (Some are reporting that LaBeouf punched the student, but since we can't actually see what happens, we've reached out to LaBeouf's camp for confirmation.)





LaBeouf completed the performance piece with fellow artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner. The trio also gave an accompanying talk about the piece at the Oxford Union, where LaBeouf noted such highlights as: "one guy pulled his dick out" and "some people ordered us pizza."


#Art. 


You can watch a 4-hour highlight reel of #ELEVATE here, or see the trio talk about the experience here


Also on HuffPost: 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Why 'Triumph The Insult Comic Dog' Won't Be Making Any Anti-Gay Jokes

0
0



In an interview with HuffPost Live this week, the man behind "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog" recalled a time he'd written a sketch with an anti-gay joke, but wisely opted to remove it. 


Following the release of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" in 2002, comedian Robert Smigel initially incorporated the word "fags" into a sketch that was eventually left on the editing room floor. Looking back, he's more than grateful it didn't make the final cut. 


"We really don't know, as stodgy old adults, what will be appropriate in 15 years," Smigel, who is also the co-creator of "The Ambiguously Gay Duo," which used to be regularly featured on "Saturday Night Live," said. A number of 20-year-old interns, however, expressed their distaste for the word, and Smigel took their advice. 


"I think the audience generally tells you what's appropriate this year, right now," Smigel said. "I just want make people laugh right now and be proud of what I'm doing."


Also on HuffPost: 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

6 Influencers Who Help To Highlight The Power Of Black Representation

0
0

This February, HuffPost Black Voices is honoring black men and women who are paving the way to a better future for black America. As part of our "Black Future Month" series, we will highlight the work of deserving individuals who are striving to make the world a more inclusive place for generations to come.


For the final installment of our series, we’re honoring six dynamic influencers who shine with creativity, produce stellar platforms, and help to bring greater representation to the fields of arts and entertainment. We hope you admire their work and participate in the conversation online: #BlackFutureMonth. 



 


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











Viewing all 18483 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images