You might not immediately associate unbridled and passionate male heroism with ballet. But then again, you probably haven't seen legendary choreographer Yuri Grigorovich's "Spartacus." 

The work is loosely based on the ancient tale of a gladiator who led a slave revolt against Roman commander Crassus. You're likely familiar with Stanley Kubrick's film version starring Kirk Douglas, or, at the very least, its brief cameo in "Clueless." 

But imagine the gold-clad gladiators expressing their aggression through passionate and graceful movements that require almost Olympic levels of training. Embodying the roles is just an additional hurdle. 

"You have to completely submerge yourself into the character," principal dancer Denis Rodkin says in the video below. "When we go out on stage, the artist immediately becomes naked."

Between the physical stamina and the emotional intensity demanded to execute the piece, for dancers, it's the performance of a lifetime. As Rodkin put it: "It’s possible that working on this role would require my entire ballet career."

Since it's 1968 debut, "Spartacus," with music by Aram Khachaturian, has become one of the Bolshoi Ballet's most iconic productions. And lucky for those of outside of Russia, the mesmerizing experience is coming to over 500 cinema screens worldwide on March 13, 2016. 

For screenings and tickets in North America please visit Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema and for international screenings visit Pathe Live.

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Warning: This post contains erotic imagery and may not be suitable for work environments. 

A Bay Area artist who goes by the name of Alphachanneling has transformed his Instagram feed into a lush erotic jungle, teeming with vines, petals, bodies, leaves, flesh, and other all natural pleasures. 

I've been following Alphachanneling for a while now. I love to get lost in the psychedelic wilds where bodies go to play and touch and engage in extreme, sometimes divine, pleasure. Until recently, I assumed the artist was a woman, probably due to the softness of the images, the way they buzz with goddess magic. 

But alas, Alphachanneling is a dude. When I expressed my surprise to him, he seemed amused and altogether pleased. "That’s a good sign for me," the artist, who prefers to keep his given name under wraps. "I'm not deliberately avoiding a male-centric or masculine expression, I'm just making the things I haven't been able to find in terms of the eroticism out there."

Alphachanneling's works, from far away, look almost like children's book illustrations, their spring palette and breezy lines conjuring a magical realm just outside the everyday. Look closer, however, and you'll notice a couple sixty-nining, or a man eating out a giant flower, or a lady gently perched atop her lover's face. There is no shame in this garden of earthly delights, only lotus-love and good vibrations. 

For the artist, the key to finding his enchanted pleasure dome is striking a balance between high and low -- the sacred and the profane -- without any sense of embarrassment. "I feel like there is shame in having spiritual experiences," Alphachanneling said. "It’s something that most people want to stay private about or even censor themselves from completely. By the same token there is a shame to the base desires that don’t seem socially acceptable. You know, fucking. I like this idea of combining the two -- equally accepting both and celebrating them."

"Fundamentally what I think is for anyone to be attracted to something is a result of being activated, being in tune with it, being open to themselves and who they are. It’s a really important feeling," he added. Much of Alphachanneling's work is inspired by Taoist tradition, in which expressing sexuality is believed to be a sign of being un touch with the divine. 

Citing his other influences, Alphachanneling mentions indigenous art, Robert Crumb's drawings, BDSM and Federico Fellini's dream journals. "He documented his dreams every day. It feels like children’s art, so immediate and almost urgent. He just had to get the thing out on paper. I identify with that -- I don’t care to make it beautiful, I just need to get it on paper. It's a way of bringing out these inner realms, and there is a rawness that happens. Children’s art -- a lot of it doesn’t always make sense but you can sense it’s direct from that world of experience and impression. They're vessels for a larger meaning. A way of opening up the viewer to a certain kind of energy."

Not too surprisingly, Alphachanneling describes his own art process as a sort of channeling -- tuning into a higher frequency outside the noise of day-to-day life. Each work takes about three or four hours to complete, but the artist only expects three to four seconds of your time as a viewer. That's why Instagram, thus far, has proved such a fruitful platform. "They can speak in a short burst and leave an impression," he explained. "I got that idea from Keith Haring. Where we are culturally, there is just too much to take in, it’s nice to be able to digest something so quickly."

Instagram is somewhat of an ironic platform, given its notorious censorship policy, to display erotic content. But Alphachanneling has made peace with this idiosyncrasy of the stage as well. "I’m aware that what I’m making could disappear any second. It’s a weird feeling to be on that edge -- like my work is a sandcastle that any minute a wave could pull down. But I like the feeling that I'm creating a stream of ideas and a stream of communication. There's this continuity, this energy." 

Despite his burning love for Instagram, Alphachanneling is taking his work to the gallery space for his first solo exhibition at Jack Hanley Gallery in New York. His work will be on view from March 17 to April 17, 2016. 

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Hollywood's biggest night was a success as Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson and "Spotlight" took home the top honors at the 2016 Academy Awards. 

But it was at Vanity Fair's annual Oscar party where all of the celebration took place, with A-list stars ready to show off their best red carpet looks in exclusive portraits shot by photographer Mark Seliger. 

For the third year in a row, Vanity Fair and Seliger teamed up with Instagram for an instant photo studio to produce undeniably glamorous results.

Some of the best portraits: 

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Photographs of LGBTI activists in Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, Zambia and Uganda are currently exhibited on the streets of Spain’s industrial city Bilbao. The exhibition, titled Love Is Not a Crime: Our Fight in Africa, is organized by Amnesty International as part of Zinegoak, the Bilbao International Festival of LGBT film and performing arts.

On display until February 29, the exhibition features 27 photographs. Some of them have been shot by Kenya-based photographer Peter Muller, and others by activists such as Kasha Nabagesera, who claimed the International Nuremberg Human Rights Award in 2013.

The images capture activists fighting homophobia and transphobia "in countries where love is a crime," Aimar Rubio, one of the show's organizers, told HuffPost Spain.

"It's about highlighting the fight of these activists and citizens who are not necessarily associated with an NGO, and who jeopardize their lives and freedom every day," Rubio said. 

This post first appeared on HuffPost Spain. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity.

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When it comes to solitary activities and bravery, going to a museum alone falls somewhere between going solo to the movies and eating lunch on your own at a restaurant.

You have some kind of visual stimuli to preoccupy you, and you don’t need to don the armor of reading a book or scrolling through your phone while eating. Rather than something to be tolerated, I’d argue that going to a museum alone is something you should seek out.

When I used to work at a large, encyclopedic museum, I would often wander through the galleries by myself on my lunch break or after work. These were some of the most tranquil, insightful parts of my day, whether I was staring into the eyes of a Cindy Sherman portrait or losing myself in the colors of Rothko. As novelist Patricia Highsmith said, “My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.”

And a museum has the potential to be a playground for your imagination, if you let it. Here are six reasons to take yourself on a independent date to a museum.

1. You can set your own itinerary.

When you visit a museum like the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- one of the world's largest fine art institutions with a collection spanning 5,000 years -- you need to be highly selective in how you plan your visit, especially if there are certain artworks you have your heart set on seeing. If you went with someone, your companion might be a fan of ancient works but you’d rather spend your time perusing 18th century French portraits. When you’re on your own, you can go directly to the galleries you’re interested in and not waste time on art you have little or no desire to see.

2. You can move at your own pace.

Even in smaller museums, it’s easy to feel rushed or slowed down by another person. According to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, visitors spend on average 30 seconds in front of a work of art. Of course, that probably varies based on the person’s own artistic preferences. On your own, you can spend an hour contemplating that Kiki Smith sculpture or rush past the Jeff Koons balloon dog you’ve seen half a dozen times.

3. You'll learn to enjoy solitude.

Enjoying a museum alone might help you enjoy solitude in general and realize the benefits of having time to yourself. Even if you’re a social butterfly, being alone is an inevitable part of life, so it’s important to learn to be comfortable being alone with yourself. A museum is an ideal way to intentionally practice this, and as a result, you’ll be better equipped for those lonelier times in life.

4. You can meet new people if you want.

On the other hand, when you’re by yourself at a museum, you have more opportunities to meet new people. If you brought someone with you, you’d probably be busy chatting with your friend or significant other. But on your own, you’re more likely to strike up a conversation with strangers, and luckily, art museums are filled with the perfect conversation starters. You could ask someone a simple open-ended question, such as “What do you think of this painting?”

5. You can welcome inspiration in those quiet moments.

If you go the route of remaining alone at a museum, you won’t have the distraction of social interaction. Instead, you can focus on self-reflection, or you could look for inspiration. A museum is the perfect place to bring a sketchbook, hunker down somewhere and draw what’s around you -- whether that’s the artworks or the people -- with no aim or judgment. Bonus: museums are a wonderful place to people watch.

6. It will boost your confidence.

Doing anything on your own, including going to a museum, can be incredibly empowering. Of course, it’s great to have someone to rely on, but it’s especially satisfying when that someone is you. The more you do things alone, the more likely you are to feel that you can tackle any challenge independently.  

In the end, a museum can be a great place for singles, couples and groups alike, all seeking a quiet, contemplative space. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, but the respective experiences are qualitatively different. The thought of going to a place as public as a museum by yourself might be intimidating, but I encourage you to try it out. You might discover another side to yourself, to the art or to other people that you wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.

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Somehow, against all odds, you got tickets to the most buzzed-about Broadway show of 2015: one that's both historical and modern, one that's so cool, its creator rapped his Grammy acceptance speech.

It was an uphill battle for sure, as tickets are sold out for the show until January 2017. You take your seat, wait for the curtain to rise and ... wait. That's not Lin-Manuel Miranda or Leslie Odom Jr. Those are ... Peeps. You turn to your Playbill to make sure you're in the right place. There it is, under the silhouette of a bunny on top of a star: Hamilpeep. No wonder those tickets went for the astonishingly low price of $0.00.

Still, this genius creation from the mind of Kate Ramsayer, Helen Fields and Joanna Church for the annual Peeps diorama contest in the Washington Post, is as close as most of us damn fools are going to get to the addictive show. 

At least with this version, we'd be able to eat our feelings after the end. Get a closer look and some behind-the-scenes shots below.

Keep trying for those actual tickets, "Hamilton" fans! Lin-Manuel Miranda believes in you.

H/T Mashable

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"Self-love is a process," says artist Frances Cannon. "It takes time and effort. Some days are harder than others, but with practice, patience and belief in yourself, it becomes easier and more natural to love who you are."

Cannon's practice, patience and belief shines most prominently in her illustrations, habitually displayed for all to see on her Instagram account. Her black-and-white figures -- mostly nude, accented by bits of body hair and well-placed affirmations -- exult themes of self-love and body positivity.

"Today, I resolve to love myself," one reads. "I don't care if my self-confidence scares you," another decrees.

As her website notes, Cannon loves drawing naked bodies, boobs and butts, with the aim of helping women -- including herself -- feel beautiful, strong and worthy of love. Rebelling against the beauty standards that demand women work hard for a mythical ideal body type, Cannon's figures are often drawn content with the present. "You are worth all the love in the universe," she tells her fans.

"I decided about two years ago to fully commit to loving and cherishing my body," Cannon explained to The Huffington Post, "and body-positive artwork was an important part of the process. I'm open to making art about other topics and themes, but for now body positivity and feminism is what I'm passionate about and inspired by."

Her work, she says, is very personal. Many of her drawings are depictions of her own body and personality, and while plenty of her images show strong and proud women, she doesn't shy away from capturing insecurity too, rendered as hunched shoulders and turned backs. "Your tears are relevant," she writes on one drawing. "Your feelings are important. You are capable to move through and move on."

"The emotions I portray in my work also heavily depend on how I am feeling on the day," she said. "If I'm having a rough day, the characters in my drawings will be sad, and if I'm feeling strong and confident, my characters are joyous. My drawings are like writing in a diary."

Cannon -- a fine art student in Melbourne, Australia -- grew up in Thailand, where both of her parents still work. She's been interested in drawing and art ever since she was a kid, supported by her mother and father who were both happy to pay for art supplies. "I'm always thankful for that," she added.

Today, Cannon mostly finds material for her work in stories of people pushing for change. "Right now, I am inspired by people who are willing to fight for equal rights and justice for women and minorities," she concluded. "I am inspired by people who use their artwork, their voice, or their bodies as protest against inequality."

Many artists today are using their art to confront beauty and image standards in particular, raising awareness of fourth-wave feminist issues along the way. 

Women like Substantia Jones, Kate Allan, and Anastasia Kuba tackle body positivity head on, along with the new comic book Faith, which centers on a telekinetic female superhero. Other artists like Ayqa Khan and Patty Carroll use art to challenge the ways women -- and women of color -- are represented in mainstream media, while photography collectives like Girls by Girls are attempting to reclaim the way young women's bodies are manipulated before a camera. 

Echoing a generation of sex and body-positive women before them, contemporary, Instagram-savvy artists aren't afraid to show you how real women look and feel. Cannon is certainly one of them.

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Brooklyn-based artist Cameron Dailey is using bits of his life and scraps of the past to create evocative, personal pieces about what it means to him to be a gay man in his 40s.

His new collection, titled “The Past That Suits You Best” and on display this March at The Spring Break Art Fair in New York City, remixes the bric-a-brac in his mind with images inspired by vintage children's books, old movie stills and song lyrics to manifest poignant drawings.

The Huffington Post recently caught up with Dailey to learn more about “The Past That Suits You Best,” his artistic process and more.

The Huffington Post: How did you start this collection? Do you remember what the first piece was and what sparked it?
Cameron Dailey: I started making these pieces on a daily basis as a sort of diary and mailing them out to friends as pen pal notes. Once the momentum was there I wanted to develop it into a larger project and share them as a body of work. The first piece was a boy reading a book while riding a cat that is walking along a fence in the rain and the cat is declaring, “Come with me, we’ll surprise everybody."

Many of the pieces explore/disarm/upset — at times hilariously, at other times poignantly — ideas of masculinity and gay culture. Is there a central statement you’re trying to make in relation to these topics?
These are my experiences and observations as a gay white male in my 40s. If there is a central statement in the work it’s “I’m OK."

How personal is this work? Lots of the “boys” in the pieces look an awful lot like you (right down to the beards). Is that you inserting yourself in these situations? To what end?
I’d say I’m somewhere in each piece. Sometimes I’m the bearded “boy” and sometimes I’m the urine soaked underwear he’s thrown on the floor. Just like in life.

I suppose in some ways these pieces are my version of the gym selfie.

I first saw these pieces shared on Facebook and that made me think about how social media has become a way of mediating and navigating our personas, as well as our relationships (romantic and otherwise) with ourselves and others, visually. How do you think social media (and all of the self reflection and/or narcissism that comes with it) functions to complicate these pieces?

I suppose in some ways these pieces are my version of the gym selfie. I started posting these works on Facebook with the intention of connecting with people away from social media through the pen pal series. If someone sent me their address I would send them a drawing and the offline connection was made. Once I moved past the pen pal series I got an Instagram account and started posting the work there. Emotional over sharing has more appeal to me these days.

What’s up next for these pieces and what’s up next for you?
I am planning on turning a selection of these pieces and the original pen pal series into a book. I’m also applying to a few residency programs, working on some larger pieces and hopefully continuing the adventure.

The Spring Break Art Show runs March 2 - March 7 in New York City. For more information and tickets, head here. Check out more of Dailey's drawings below.

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Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar on Sunday for his portrayal of a man attacked by a bear and left for dead in "The Revenant." But the actor's triumphant moment onstage could have unfolded a lot differently.

Check out what The Flippist's flipbook had in mind.

H/T Design Taxi

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This article originally appeared on artnet News.

Anish Kapoor provoked the fury of fellow artists by acquiring the exclusive rights to the blackest black in the world.

Known as Vantablack, the pigment is so dark that it absorbs 99.96 percent of light. The color is produced by the UK firm Surrey NanoSystems and was developed for military purposes such as the painting of stealth jets.

The Indian-born British artist has been working and experimenting with the “super black" paint since 2014 and has recently acquired exclusive rights to the pigment according to reports by The Daily Mail.

“It's blacker than anything you can imagine," Kapoor told BBC radio 4 in September 2014. “It's so black you almost can't see it. It has a kind of unreal quality."

The artist clearly knows the value of this innovation for his work. “I've been working in this area for the last 30 years or so with all kinds of materials but conventional materials, and here's one that does something completely different," he said, adding “I've always been drawn to rather exotic materials."

However, Kapoor's decision to withhold the material from fellow artists has sparked outrage across the international artists community.

The British painter Christian Furr angrily told The Daily Mail “I've never heard of an artist monopolizing a material […] We should be able to use it. It isn't right that it belongs to one man."

The Indian Telegraph cited Kapoor's fellow British Indian artist Shanti Panchal who also criticized Kapoor. “I have not known of anything so absurd," he said. “In the creative world, artists, nobody should have a monopoly."

Some have taken to social media to criticize Kapoor. One Twitter user joked “Anish Kapoor's narcissism rises to 99.96 percent as he's given exclusive rights to Vantablack." Another user simply said “This is immoral, surely?"

Yet the case isn't unprecedented. In 1960, Yves Klein invented a color and secured a patent on International Klein Blue. The difference is that Kapoor didn't invent Vantablack, and that Vantablack's properties are very unique.

Anish Kapoor declined to comment on his acquisition of Vantablack, and Surrey NanoSystems didn't respond to a request for comment.

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Sam Smith looked moved at the Oscars when he nabbed the Best Original Song award for his song, "Writing's on the Wall," from the James Bond film, "Spectre." It was an upset over Lady Gaga, who had been considered a shoo-in for her song, "Til It Happens To You."  

In the acceptance speech that followed, however, the singer-songwriter misquoted an interview with Sir Ian McKellen, and implied that he was the first openly gay man to win an Academy Award. 

"I read an article a few months ago by Sir Ian McKellen and he said that no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar,” he said. “If this is the case — even if it isn't the case — I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community all around the world."

Unfortunately for Smith, McKellen had been referencing the fact that no openly gay man had won the Oscar for Best Actor, specifically. Needless to say, the star was quickly called out for his blunder on Twitter. Fellow Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black was among the most outspoken critics, and tweeted: 

Others were similarly riled by Smith's gaffe: 

Of course, the gay and lesbian community has long been successful in Hollywood. To help Smith get started on his research, we've created a list of 9 openly gay men -- and women -- who've won Academy Awards over the years. (Not included are those like Joel Grey and Jodie Foster, who came out after they won their respective Oscars). 

Take a look: 

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Lady Gaga's emotional performance of "Till It Happens To You" at the Oscars hit a high note near the end, when a group of 50 sexual assault survivors walked on stage and stood defiantly as the cameras zoomed in to show they had messages written on their arms, including "Not Your Fault" and "It Happened To Me."

The ballad was nominated for best original song at the Oscars, since it served as the theme for the campus rape documentary "The Hunting Ground." 

Vice President Joe Biden appeared on stage Sunday to introduce Lady Gaga and ask people to take the "It's On Us" pledge to end sexual assault and intervene in potentially dangerous situations.

"I'm asking you to join millions of Americans, including me, President Obama, the thousands of students I've met on college campuses, and the artists I've met here tonight to take the pledge," Biden said, "A pledge that says, 'I will intervene in situations when consent has not or cannot be given.' Let's change the culture. We must change the culture, so that no abused women or man, like the survivors you will see tonight, ever feel they have to ask themselves, 'What did I do?' They did nothing wrong."

Backstage, Biden took time to speak with each one of the survivors "for a really long time," the survivors who met with him told The Huffington Post. Lady Gaga's choreographer taught some of the survivors the dance moves to "Telephone," they said. And actress Brie Larson, who starred in "Room," an Oscar-nominated film about a woman imprisoned and raped, met with the survivors backstage before the performance, and later hugged each one as they left the stage. They also offered her a huge hug after she won the Oscar for best actress. 

There was clearly a lot of attention on sex abuse victims at the Oscars. In addition to Lady Gaga's performance and Biden's brief speech, the show included the nominations and awards for "Room," as well as for "Spotlight," the best picture-winning film about reporters who uncovered the child rape scandal in the Catholic Church. 

But what was less explicit Sunday was that the group of sexual assault survivors gathered for Lady Gaga's performance was diverse, in more ways than one. It included men and women, as well as people who don't identify as either gender; survivors from various racial backgrounds; students who attended elite schools like Harvard and those who attended state universities; and some who were first-generation students. 

Here are some of the survivors who joined Lady Gaga on stage at the Oscars:

Standing along Lady Gaga's piano on stage were Annie Clark, Andrea Pino and Sofie Krasek, three women who were featured prominently in "The Hunting Ground" as they began to organize a group called End Rape on Campus, which they now run. The group helped spark a wave of federal complaints against colleges and universities about how they handled sexual violence cases. 

Ari Mostov, a survivor from the University of Southern California, actually worked on a different documentary about campus rape, called "It Happens Here." Mostov had reported an assault to the University of Southern California's Department of Public Safety, but said officers told her it was not a crime because her assailant didn't orgasm.

Wagatwe Wanjuki, who currently writes for Upworthy, and who started the #SurvivorPrivilege hashtag in response to a controversial column from George Will that suggested students reported rape to gain a "coveted status" as a victim.

Andrew Brown, a survivor whose case at Brown University was previously profiled on HuffPost.

Ryan Clifford, a survivor who appeared briefly in "The Hunting Ground."

Kamilah Willingham, who was featured prominently in "The Hunting Ground" in connection to her sexual assault case at Harvard Law School. 

Rose Richi, one of the women who sued the University of Connecticut for how it handled several sexual assault cases. 

Kevin Kantor, a slam poet who once performed a piece about his rapist appearing on Facebook under the "People You May Know" section. 

Nastassja Schmiedt and Lea Roth, two survivor-activists who are now engaged, and were assaulted when they were both at Dartmouth College. They've since started an activist group called Spring Up, and wrote a book that explores sexuality with young people, aptly titled Millennial Sex Education. They gave a copy of the book to Biden. 

Zerlina Maxwell, a survivor, writer and commentator. She made waves in 2013 when she appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show and argued against the idea that arming women with handguns would prevent rape, since a majority of assaults are committed by someone the victim knows. Instead, Maxwell said, there should be more focus on teaching men not to rape. Maxwell subsequently received racially fueled death threats for speaking out against rape, according to Democracy Now. (Disclosure: Maxwell has previously hosted segments on HuffPost Live.)

In an Instagram post on Monday, Lady Gaga thanked the survivors for standing on stage with her, writing, "Thank you for all the things you said, for listening to my story and sharing yours. I will never forget it. 50 survivors, so brave, relentless determination." 

________

Tyler Kingkade covers higher education and sexual violence, and is based in New York. You can reach him at tyler.kingkade@huffingtonpost.com, or find him on Twitter: @tylerkingkade.

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“I’m the Danish Girl!” Tracy Morgan cried before chomping down on a giant breakfast pastry. His signature, matter-of-fact delivery had the crowd at the 88th annual Academy Awards in stitches. It was part of a montage of Best Picture contenders where Morgan, Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg and Leslie Jones stood in for major characters, taking a funny shot at the glaring absence of black nominees in this year’s lineup.

Along with a slew of other tweaks, it was an attempt to address complaints that the Oscars are boring, irrelevant and unquestionably white dude-centric. On the first two points, this year’s ceremony was an improvement. But when it comes to confronting a field of lily-white contenders, there’s only so much an opening standup routine can fix.

If you boycotted the Oscars or forwent them after the drudgery that was the 2012-2015 ceremonies, you weren’t alone. Thanks in large part to the organizers of #OscarsSoWhite, actors and fans alike abstained. In a poll on The Huffington Post that asked whether readers will be tuning in, 43 percent of respondents said “Hell no,” while 41 percent answered, “Only for Chris Rock’s monologue.”

Those who tuned in to support Rock were likely pleased. His opening sketch didn’t shy away from diversity issues. Instead, he questioned them head-on, if glibly. Eschewing a song-and-dance routine à la Hugh Jackman, he walked onstage, picked up the mic, and quipped, “I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards. You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job.”

He continued to pack his hilarious routine with real talk, mentioning that women are probably only represented by the Academy by virtue of gendered acting categories. “Robert De Niro’s never said, ‘I better slow this acting down, so Meryl Streep can catch up’,” Rock said. “No, not at all, man. If you want black people every year at the Oscars, just have black categories like Best Black Friend.”

Rock’s observations were tricky suggestions wrapped up in stereotype-busting jokes. Breaking Oscar categories down by race to ensure representation suggests that black actors, directors, writers and designers aren’t up to par with the white nominees, which of course is far from the truth. But, if racial representation functions anything like gender representation, distinct categories would work as a short-term remedy. A quick look at how women are represented in categories that aren’t gendered is pretty bleak. Separating the prizes may be a choice bloated with upsetting implications about gender rigidity, but it does get women nominated, where otherwise they wouldn’t be.

“Everything’s not sexism, everything’s not racism,” Rock continued, this time addressing Reese Witherspoon’s #AskHerMore campaign, centered on the fashion-centric questions hurled at women -- but not men -- during red carpet interviews. “They ask the men more because the men are all wearing the same outfits, OK? Every guy in there is wearing the exact same thing. You know, if George Clooney showed up with a lime green tux on, and a swan coming out his ass, somebody would go, ‘What you wearing, George?’”

While funny, the bit brushed over some pretty basic considerations related to gender-based discrimination, including why, exactly, men feel free to wear pared-down getups, while women are expected to dress ostentatiously and Jared Leto’s froofy carnation ties seem to legitimately wig people out.

The most overtly not-OK comment? Rock’s jokes about child labor and Asian kids’ math skills. While trying to battle institutionalized racism, he blatantly proliferated a stereotype about a race other than his own, spurring justifiably angry comments from viewers, voiced under the hashtag #AsiansAtTheOscars.

Aside from these big missteps, Rock’s bits were on point and well-received. And, that the notoriously cagey Academy allowed him -- or, more likely, asked him -- to address racism and sexism bodes well for change in the future. If years past are any indicator, the Academy would love nothing more than to make the ceremony itself a big ol’ pat on the back, a swelling homage to cinematic history and the contemporary films that uphold those ideals (“The Artist,” “Argo,” and “Hugo” are just a few recent winners that pay direct tribute to filmmaking).

Rock’s speeches and Tracy Morgan’s mashup weren’t the only markers of progress this year. In other changes, thank-yous scrolled across the screen as winners read truncated acceptance speeches, technical categories were explained visually rather than via wordy descriptions, and standup comedians were invited to present, pepping up the overall mood.

There were also fewer homages to classic movies, and notably less back-patting. Instead, political and social concerns were discussed. Joe Biden and Lady Gaga used the award show as an opportunity to raise awareness for sexual assault; Leonardo DiCaprio and "Mad Max" designer Jenny Beavan called attention to global warming. "Spotlight," an overtly altruistic film, trumped industry darling "The Revenant," an aesthetically beautiful film that's arguably more in line with Best Picture winners past. 

For once, the theme of the night wasn’t “remember when?” but “listen up now.”

So, are the Oscars finally getting with the times? Not quite. But think of them as a massive, slow-shifting planet: their pull is still strong, and big reversals can happen, if enough outside force is exerted.

Also on HuffPost:

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Beyond the barbed wire and chain-link fences surrounding Lee Correctional Facility, inmates at South Carolina's largest maximum-security prison are finding self-expression through music. The Decoda Ensemble's criminal justice initiative works with select inmates to write songs, create music collaborations and provide a creative outlet. Claire Bryant, the director of the program, said it encourages inmates not just to think about an issue, but to create a response to it.

After workshopping the songs and rehearsing, inmates in the program even perform for their peers, prison staff and a few civilians. The Decoda Ensemble hopes the opportunity for creative expression will not just help foster citizenship within the facility, but also help the inmates build skills for life outside the prison's walls.

Watch the clip above to learn more about the transformative program.

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Photos taken inside the living spaces of migrants and refugees in the Calais "Jungle" show inhabitants' efforts to make themselves a home away from home.

The Jungle is a makeshift camp in northern France, near the tunnel connecting the country with the United Kingdom. The site has existed as a temporary accommodation for migrants and refugees since the early 2000s, but its population has swelled in the last several months as more and more people from around the world have arrived, hoping to settle in Europe. Many of the Jungle's approximately 4,000 inhabitants eventually want to reach the U.K. to work or join family.

The camp is in dire condition, with its shacks and tents vulnerable to the region's winter winds and rains. A group of U.K. researchers, supported by Doctors of the World and the Economic and Social Research Council, said in an October report that the camp had water sources containing E. coli and Coliform, overflowing toilets and a lack of debris collection.

Photos of the Jungle inhabitants' homes, taken last August by U.K.-based photojournalist Mary Turner, show their varied attempts to add comfort and familiarity to their lives -- through belongings such as a poster of a Paris Saint-Germain soccer player, an Arabic-French dictionary, playing cards, religious books and figurines, and stuffed animals.

"There are no people in these photographs, but their voices are everywhere," Turner wrote in a post introducing her photo series. "They are grubby and bleak because that is the reality of what life is like there." 

On Monday morning, authorities in Calais began tearing down shelters in the southern section of the camp, as part of a plan to demolish half of the Jungle. Riot police released tear gas while activists, migrants and refugees protested, and shelters were set on fire.

Officials said between 800 and 1,000 people in the camp would be evicted or relocated, but local groups said the number is actually closer to 3,500.

Fabienne Buccio, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais department, recommended earlier this month that evictees either move to heated containers that the government had opened near the Jungle, or go to refugee reception centers in other areas of France.

Many refugees don't want to go to the government receptions centers because they believe going further away from the English Channel may slow down their journey to the U.K., Clare Moseley, founder of local nonprofit Care4Calais, told The WorldPost.

Some other Jungle inhabitants had also moved to the Grande-Synthe refugee camp, a swampy site in the nearby town of Dunkirk that in recent months mushroomed with people wanting to reach the U.K.

Take a look at Turner's photographs and the Jungle inhabitants' stories below.

Read more about refugees in France:

Refugees Fight With Police As Their Homes In The 'Jungle' Are Razed

How Europe's Tragic Refugee And Migrant Crisis Got So Dire

Photos Show Desperate Situation In France's Grande-Synthe Refugee Camp

This Is The Horrific Squalor Refugees Endure In France

Why These Volunteers Are Braving Dire Conditions To Provide For Refugees

U.K. Nonprofit Sends Caravans To Calais To Protect Refugees In Winter

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We'll double tap this job.

Netflix is searching for someone to hang out on the European sets of movies and TV shows to snap Instagram shots.

And it's willing to pay $4,000 for just two weeks of work.

The "Grammaster" job is detailed on the Netflix website -- and it's surprisingly easy to apply for.

There's no complicated form to fill in and you don't even have to draft an awe-inspiring cover letter.

All you have to do is follow Netflix on Instagram and hashtag your top three images on the picture sharing site with #grammasters3 by this Sunday.

"We're looking for TV & movie fans with a talent for taking pictures," the job description states. "Choose photos that show off your interests or passions."

Just make sure your account isn't private, or your snaps won't be seen.

Netflix said it will handle all travel arrangements for the fortnight-long job -- and fork out $2,000 per week.

There are four positions available and applicants must be 21 or older, according to the terms and conditions. The 25 finalists will be announced on Mar. 11 and Netflix will decide on the successful quartet by Mar. 29.

It's the third time streaming service has run the program.

Here's what a previous group of "Grammasters" got up to out on the road:

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As prosecutor Christopher Darden in FX's dramatization "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson," Sterling K. Brown plays one of the most tortured characters during the former football star's murder trial as it played out across TV sets in the '90s.

As Brown explained on AOL BUILD on Wednesday, pretty much everyone in Darden's life told him not to get involved in the Simpson trial while he worked as a black Los Angeles County District Attorney. While he considered their advice, the person he listened to was Marcia Clark, played by Sarah Paulson in the series, the lead prosecutor on the case. "American Crime Story" gives viewers a peek at those doubts behind Darden's professional façade. In the end, Brown explained, Darden took the case because he wanted to see justice prevail.

For that sticky decision, Brown told The Huffington Post he had a message for Darden: "Thank you."

"This man received death threats. He received tons and tons of hate mail on a daily basis calling him everything but his name," Brown explained.

"People didn’t want him to be black, [saying] 'Don’t speak for black people anymore.' All these things that he had the integrity to see through for the people who couldn’t see it through for themselves, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

In a case strongly characterized by racial tensions between the Los Angeles Police Department and its black citizens, some of the latter group could not understand Darden's decision to prosecute a successful black man on behalf of the city.

The Simpson trial, after all, played out just a couple years after riots sparked by Rodney King's appalling mistreatment by LAPD officers. Further, the defense had employed a powerful voice for black rights in Johnnie Cochran, who argued passionately against the LAPD on behalf of his client. To some, Darden looked like he was betraying the movement against police misconduct. And indeed, a large part of Simpson's defense strategy lay in showing how detectives botched their investigation.

Despite repeated attempts, Brown hasn't yet spoken to the real Darden. But the actor said the attorney's intentions were kind-hearted -- Darden worked for the DA in order to fight police corruption from within.

"All of the indictments that have been trying to go down in Ferguson, in Staten Island, North Charleston, Cleveland, etcetera," Brown explained on BUILD, "he would have been that individual trying to prosecute."

"American Crime Story" airs at 10 P.M. EST Tuesdays on FX.

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When we’re flooded with emotion, good or bad, we say we’re “speechless.” It’s a hyperbolic phrase, sure, but a nice means of describing the indescribable. It means our feelings are so strong that words couldn’t possibly match them. 

But for about one percent of the population, “speechless” isn’t a metaphor. Seventy million people worldwide speak with a stutter, which is, for some, an almost impenetrable barrier between inner thoughts and outward communication. Your mind reels with thoughtful questions and compliments, but when you open your mouth to share them, an invisible blockade holds them in. Sounds a little like a promising, jitters-inducing first date, right?

Writer and director Benjamin Cleary seems to think so; his Academy Award-winning short film “Stutterer” explores the self-conscious nerves and utter excitement of dating, through the eyes and mouth of a man with a stutter. The movie is Cleary's first, produced last year after he graduated from the London School of Film. 

The flick opens with a shot of its cute, floppy-haired protagonist, Greenwood, in the midst of an experience most of us can relate to: a maddening call with a cell service operator. The frustration of the conversation is compounded by his inability to articulate his request before he’s disconnected, again and again. 

It requires a good deal of concentration for Greenwood to form sentences, so viewers are given an inside look into his psyche through imagery, including lingering shots of his book-littered bedroom and the similarly decked-out living room of his childhood home where he plays chess with his dad. We learn about his day job as a typographer, designing visual representations of the words he finds difficult to verbalize. And, we’re granted access to his fast-running interior monologue -- what his voice would sound like if he could speak more fluidly.

The contrast between his noisy, anxious thoughts and quiet demeanor is what makes the film so powerful; any introvert can relate to the feeling of clamming up during public discussions. That Cleary makes this specific affliction universal in the span of just 12 minutes might explain why “Stutterer” took home the Best Live Action Short award at the Oscars this year, in spite of being up against some impressive contenders. 

The movie is also a nod to the changing nature of romance in a time when Tinder and OkCupid have become viable, if not preferable, modes of meeting a match. We watch the film’s protagonist digitally banter with a girl he’s been involved with for months; we watch him panic when she -- Ellie -- suggests finally meeting in person; we watch him totally ghost, only to apologize and set up a date.

Although his situation is unique, it’s also relatable. In his head, he practices what he’ll say when he arrives, giving new meaning to an old trope. For a short moment, it’s easy for the viewer to imagine exactly what it feels like to have a stutter, to always feel speechless.

And what is storytelling for, if not to generate the highest form of empathy, to plant us smack in the middle of another person’s experience?

Also on HuffPost:

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Fans of "The Bachelor" know Jade Roper (now Tolbert) as a "Wild Mustang" who got sent home in tears on Chris Soules' season, only to find true love with Tanner Tolbert on "Bachelor In Paradise." The pair got married in January, and the reality TV wedding aired on ABC on Valentine's Day, to much fanfare and with a performance by Seal.

On Monday afternoon, inspired by Lady Gaga's performance of "'Til It Happens To You" at The Oscars, Roper tackled a subject much heavier than the usual "Bachelor" chatter. The 29-year-old reality star wrote a powerful blog post opening up about her experience of sexual assault "just shy of [her] 17th birthday," in the hopes that doing so might make other women feel less alone.

"When I saw Gaga fill the whole room with emotion as she sang with conviction and urgency, as I saw survivors of sexual assault bravely stand up there showing the world that what happened to them does matter, tears streamed down my face," wrote Roper. It was this powerful moment that pushed Roper to write about her own story. 

Roper's essay describes how she was assaulted after a party in high school by two boys she was friends with. (According to RAINN, 82 percent of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows.)

"I remember one guy holding me down while another got on top of me," she wrote. "When my parents got home, my dad said he found me in my room on the floor in my underwear, mumbling to him I wasn’t innocent anymore. I was a virgin."

She goes on to write about the painful emotional fallout that occurred after the assault.

"I convinced myself I must have deserved it. That this bad thing happened to me because of something I had done," she wrote. "That I wasn’t worth being loved. That I wasn’t worth having sex for the first time with someone who cared about me. All the hurt and the anger I had towards the boys that assaulted me, I took out on myself."

Roper ends her piece by examining the healing process she's undergone over the years, and explaining why she is refusing to stay silent now:

I am not chained to this experience, it doesn’t have to control my life. I am unafraid of the feedback anymore. This happened to me and it matters. I matter. And I am worthy of love. The Lady Gaga performance gave me the courage to speak about my story, a story that’s been trapped inside me for over 12 years. I hope that sharing my experience will help girls and women know that they are not alone. And that you have to voice things in order for things to change. And always always always: You matter.

In addition to posting on Instagram and her blog, Roper also tweeted her story, along with a heart-wrenching still from Lady Gaga's performance.

Lady Gaga responded in kind:

A warrior, indeed. 

Head over to Roper's blog, Burn Bright Love, to read her full essay.

Need help? In the U.S., visit the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline operated by RAINN. For more resources, visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's website.

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In one of the last letters artist Vincent van Gogh ever wrote, he proclaimed: "The truth is, we cannot speak other than by our paintings." Today, a group of filmmakers, artists and hardcore van Gogh devotees are taking the artist's words quite seriously. 

A biopic about Van Gogh's tumultuous life and mysterious death entitled "Loving Vincent" is currently in the works, and the film will be made entirely of animated paintings in the swirling style of van Gogh's canvases. The trailer above shows a taste of the stunning intensity of paint brought to life. 

The film, directed by Polish painter Dorota Kobiela and filmmaker Hugh Welchman, is told entirely through the images and characters van Gogh brought to life -- the starry nights, the snow-covered fields, the gloomy absinthe drinkers, the hardworking postmen.

There are over 120 of van Gogh's iconic paintings folded into the narrative, their inherent buzz of motion translating to literal movement thanks to the painstaking, hand-painted animation. The plot was woven together from 800 letters written by the artist himself, and features dramatic reconstructions of the events leading to his death. 

If you are a skilled painter and huge van Gogh buff with some free time on your hands, "Loving Vincent" is currently recruiting painters to train in van Gogh's style and contribute to the epic vision. Those selected will train and work at the the film's studio in Gdansk, Poland, until August 2016. Visit the website for details on the audition and recruitment process. 

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