Frederick Douglass and Thomas Jefferson go head-to-head in the latest edition of "Epic Rap Battles of History," posted on YouTube Monday.

The former president and accomplished abolitionist throw down to settle, once and for all, who has the most street cred in history.

Jefferson begins by running down his resume and revolutionary acts he's done for the United States. "First Secretary of State, VP number two, not to mention third President, the f**k'd you do?" he rhymes in the video above.

"You finished?" Douglass responded, setting up for his hot 16. Douglass reminds Jefferson that he's "straight outta bondage," then goes on to pull out receipts about the slave owner's past.

"Starting with your nickel, there's a real declaration. Heads for racist, tails for a slave plantation," he said. "The face of a free man, taught himself to read, man, no compromise, you couldn't whip a fifth of me, man."

Jefferson gave a few excuses about being too busy to do more for slaves in his second verse, then had to nerve to ask if Douglass and him were "cool" now that he's free (as if "let's move on and forget about slavery" has ever been an acceptable idea).

Douglass read him for filth.

"You talk about freedom but you ain't applying s**t," he responded. "So no we ain't cool, you founding absentee father. You had six babies with your slave mama and never even bothered to free her when you died."

Of course we have our bias here (*cough* Freddie D. won *cough*), but who do you think had the illest bars?

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Legendary activists Angela Davis and Gloria Steinem sat onstage opposite each other on Thursday night to take part in a meaningful discussion that was as magical as they are. 

It was a rare but remarkable evening. The two icons came together at the Brooklyn Museum in New York to celebrate Davis, who was honored as this year's recipient of the Sackler Center First Award, a distinction reserved for outstanding women who have broken barriers and made significant contributions in their respective fields. Both Davis and Steinem know a thing or two about that.  

Davis is a leading freedom fighter whose legacy dominates throughout black history. Her work highlights the intersection of issues like race, gender, prison and politics, which brought her major attention in the early '70s for her radical activism and relentless mission to fight for the freedom of political prisoners everywhere. Steinem is no stranger from strong advocacy work, either. As a standout scholar and feminist icon who has always stressed intersectionality, Steinem's activism is just as significant. 

On Thursday, before Davis accepted her award, the two sat down for a candid conversation on Davis' work and wisdom following a partial screening of a 2013 film titled, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners." The film, directed by Shola Lynch, documents Davis' revolutionary life and powerfully chronicles the obstacles she overcame in fighting oppression (a fight she still pursues). 

"What helped you survive?" Steinem asked Davis before an auditorium packed with remarkable women and social justice organizers. 

"What made feel capable of getting up every day and moving forward was the fact that there were so many other people involved in the struggle," Davis responded. "This was not my struggle alone."

"I could only see myself as being one of many others and that helped me," Davis added. "I didn't feel alone." 

During the conversation, Davis discussed the importance of community building and cultivating global connections. She explained how, oftentimes, people may see their struggles as experiences that are unique to them when support and solidarity from others are absent, and stressed why that unnecessary burden must be lifted.  

"We are so much more than individuals," she said. "We're connected to people all over the world who experience the same kind of traumas. If only we can gather the strength and courage that comes from feeling a part of a larger community, then we can accomplish all kinds of things."

"We are so much more than individuals."
Angela Davis

Steinem agreed. As one of the legendary leaders of the feminist movement, she said this is what movements are all about. In discussing the topic more, Steinem didn't miss the opportunity to ask Davis to share her thoughts on powerful present-day movements like "Black Lives Matter." 

"Black Lives Matter, this is what we've been waiting for," Davis said about the urgent needs the movement fulfills among civil rights advocates. "This is a historical conjuncture where all the ingredients came together in an amazing way and Opal, Patrisse and Alicia (the co-founders of the movement) were able to read the times and understand that this is what we need at this moment." 

As a seasoned activist, Davis said racism has been revealed in ways that she, and other elder activists, thought would have been "consigned to the dust bins of history" by now. However, while Davis said that may not be the case, she highlighted the need for social justice organizations like Black Lives Matter, the Justice League in New York and BYP 100 in Chicago to continue to develop strategies to confront and stand up against racism and oppression. 

"All of this is connected and I think that is a moment when there is so much promise, so much potential," Davis said. "Of course we never know what the outcome is going to be, we can never predict the consequences of the work that we do. But as I always like to say, we have to act as if it is possible to build a revolution and to radically transform the world." 

Preach. 

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"I'll never make a film with supermodels again."

This was director John Carney's passionate declaration, made in an interview with The Independent on May 28. The "supermodel" in question was Keira Knightley, star of his well-received 2013 musical dramedy "Begin Again." According to Carney, while (male) stars Mark Ruffalo and Adam Levine turned in stellar performances, Knightley was a nightmare to work with. 

"Keira has an entourage that follow her everywhere so it’s very hard to get any real work done," Carney said. "[Her] thing is to hide who you are and I don’t think you can be an actor and do that."

For Carney, Knightley was too much of a movie star, unwilling to be "honest" onscreen, unconvincing as a singer and musician, and simply not "ready" to be a proper film actress. Whether Knightley is a great actress or not is certainly a matter of perspective, but the fact of the matter is that she is one of the most seasoned and acclaimed actresses in Hollywood, with two Oscar nominations under her belt. 

It is more than OK for a director to nitpick his own work, or to be unsatisfied with the final performance of one his actors. But Carney's criticisms of Knightley, an Oscar-nominated actress, were steeped in a kind of misogyny that runs rampant in Hollywood. It's absurd to complain about all the trappings of Knightley's success (the paparazzi, the red carpets, the entourage), when these trappings, and "supermodel" looks are practically demanded of women in Hollywood if they want to succeed. 

This is just one of the many sexist double standard of Hollywood. Hollywood wants its actresses, even "serious" actresses like Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett, to be breathtakingly beautiful. It pressures them to work the red carpet as well as they work the camera. But when they reach a certain level of success, suddenly they are "difficult" to work with, divas with no real talent. 

There's a theme of patronizing entitlement that so many male directors in Hollywood have, especially when it comes to their female stars. They can be controlling, overly preoccupied with the way their actresses look, and dismissive of their actresses' needs and boundaries. We've seen this in its extreme with Hitchcock's blonde obsession, but it's also echoed far more subtlety in director's today like David O'Russell and Michael Bay. 

Bay, who allegedly made Megan Fox wash his Ferrari in a bikini as her audition for "Transformers." Bay, who, during promotion for his 2001 film "Pearl Harbor," repeatedly told reporters that he cast Kate Beckinsale as the romantic lead because she "wasn't so attractive that she would alienate the female audience." These anecdotes have traditionally been brushed off, treated as acceptable comments to make about the women these powerful men direct. 

Both Bay and Carney have issued apologies to the actresses they so publicly disrespected this week, within days of each other. This is key. The ease and casualness with which they first made these remarks about their female stars emphasizes the fact that men in Hollywood are constantly given passes for being misogynists, especially if their misogyny is couched with supposed genius, artistry, or box office success. 

The things that directors like Bay, Carney and so many other directors get away with saying or doing at the expense of their female stars are not only offensive -- they're simply unprofessional. Carney's apology was heartfelt and well-written, he admitted: "In trying to pick holes in my own work, I ended up blaming someone else." But Carney shouldn't have had to write an apology at all.

One wonders what made him say those things about Knightley on record in the first place? Even if he truly felt that way? If he had had an equally unpleasant experience with Mark Ruffalo, would he have talked about it, too? Or is it simply easier to respect another man professionally, no matter how badly he messes up, as opposed to a woman? 

Whatever motivated the initial commentary, it's heartening to see these men forced to reckon with their unprofessional behavior. One thing is clear: gone are the days when male directors get to denigrate their female stars and get away with it. 

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June has officially arrived, and Father's Day is approaching (June 19 in case you haven't yet marked your calendar). Thus commences the search for the perfect gift and card.

Finding the words you want to say to the father of your children can be a challenge, so we've scoured the internet for you to offer some ideas.

Here are 21 honest, hilarious and totally sweet cards to give your partner this Father's Day.

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The ladies of Twitter never fail to brighten our days with their brilliant -- but succinct -- wisdom. Each week, HuffPost Women rounds up hilarious 140-character musings. For this week's great tweets from women, scroll through the list below. Then visit our Funniest Tweets From Women page for our past collections.     

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The incisive ode to Asian girls you’ve been waiting for is here.

Rapper Awkwafina and comedian Margaret Cho dropped the video "Green Tea" on the last day of May, which was Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The song destroys the many offensive stereotypes projected on to Asian women and instills some ethnic pride.

The video is a tongue-in-cheek sendup of Asian stereotypes and unfortunate figureheads from the "sexy schoolgirl" to the "dragon lady" to Long Duk Dong  and, well, Soon-Yi Previn. (If it's not evident, this vid is NSFW.)

The video premiered on the blog Angry Asian Man.

Queens-born rapper Awkwafina told the blog that "Green Tea" is an anthem for young women of color "to embrace their quirkiness, their sexuality, their inner-child and their creativity with passion." She said she hoped other "brash yellow girls" would find inspiration in the hysterical video.

Cho and Awkwafina are sort of an intergenerational pair, coming from different waves of Asian-American entertainers. Cho, 47, was a groundbreaking standup comic whose short-lived sitcom, All-American Girl, was one of the first-ever televised portrayals of an East Asian family. And Awkwafina, 27, is still one of the only Asian women in rap. Each was effusive about the other.

"Awkwafina is the future!" raved Margaret Cho, on Angry Asian Man.

"I love Margaret," said Awkwafina, "and I hope some young girl -- but not too young -- watches this video and it inspires them somehow."

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Evie Boyd had a crush on a boy, and she wanted him to notice. That he was older than her was no deterrent. Ever since he acknowledged her in a friend’s dimly lit kitchen -- “Looking good, Boyd” -- she felt awash in a hot, fluttery sensation whenever he came around. Never mind that he was her friend’s older brother, or that he was already in a relationship. She pursued his attentions hungrily,  predatorily almost, rocking a blouse that framed her new gift of cleavage, in hopes that he’d look at her favorably again.

All of which is to say: Evie, the protagonist of Emma Cline’s powerful debut novel The Girls, was a 14-year-old girl like any other. Her parents recently divorced, she lazed around, avoiding her mother’s new hobbies, adopted desperately in an attempt to stay afloat: eating meals of nothing but miso, going on dates with kind, aloof cowboys. Evie and her family didn’t want for much -- they lived in a nice home in Petaluma, financed by her late grandmother, a well-known actress. But the divorce and a tumultuous breakup with her BFF left Evie feeling listless, unseen. It was a recipe for petty delinquency, and indeed, a run-in with an intoxicatingly pretty girl, cool and grimy, lead Evie to shoplift toilet paper on her behalf.

Up to this point, Cline’s novel reads like a bevy of other newly published works centered on the warring forces of confidence and powerlessness at war within young girls: Lindsey Hunter’s Ugly Girls, Rebecca Schiff’s The Bed Moved. Her sentences artfully waffle between strident and unsure, declarative and grasping at loose metaphors, like a teen making sense of the world, confronting it boldly as a test.

But the story of fumbling self-discovery is the backdrop for a more sinister event, a violent historical moment: the murders committed by Charles Manson and his “family,” the titular girls of Cline’s book. Evie’s shoplifting thrill evolves into more when she stumbles upon Suzanne, the girl who’d caught her attention before, and accompanies her back to a ranch where she and a slew of other young women and visitors fawn over an aspiring musician and proselytizer of the immaterial: Russell, i.e., Kentucky-hailed Charles Manson.

Evie feels her loneliness drift away at the ranch, which she visits often, using sleepovers with her ex-friend as an alibi. Viewing the communal living quarters, clothing pool, and sexual arrangements as the antithesis of her mom’s prim posturing, she feels at ease, especially when showered in Suzanne’s attentions. She recognizes, in retrospect, that Russell’s musical talent is lacking, his lyrics schmaltzy, his philosophizing equally so. She realizes, too, that many of their exchanges were games meant to test her subservience; feeling vulnerable, Evie passed.

These dreamy, drug-fueled scenes are punctuated by flashes forward, an adult Evie reflecting on her wayward youth, haunted by the question that’s lurked in the back of her mind since her visits to the ranch: If circumstances were different, if she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time, would she have committed murder, too? These speculations aren’t so much meant to sympathize with Russell and Suzanne, who Evie posits “isn’t a good person,” as much as they serve to harshly illuminate the ways an individual’s environment can contribute to dark deeds.

Illustrating the malleability of insecure, lonely young women, Evie recalls visiting doctors when she was younger, and not knowing how to respond when asked to pinpoint the source and intensity of her pain. “I needed to be told,” Cline writes, “that was the whole point of going to the doctor.” She relates this foggy self-understanding, this need for direction, to the crimes committed by the ranch girls. “Of course the girls didn’t leave the ranch,” she writes, “there’s a lot that can be borne.”

As full as the book is of clearly articulated notions, paragraph-long observations on the paradox of feminine power and girlish powerlessness, it’s not a creed; Cline carefully treads along a well-paced plot, drawing characters with heart along the way. She manages to reflect on the tension between the selves we perform and the selves we feel we are -- “affected” is a favorite alternative to “said” -- without getting mired in commentary. The result is a book as fast-moving as a van on the run, as dark and atmospheric as the smog it cuts through.

The bottom line:

A complex story about girlhood, violence, and the psychology of cults, carried by the author’s buoyant sentences and easy insights into the paradoxes of femininity.

Who wrote it?

This is Emma Cline’s first novel. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review and Tin House. 

Who will read it?

Anyone interested in coming-of-age stories that go beyond lightheartedness, psychologically insightful fiction, and, of course, stories about girlhood and womanhood.

What other reviewers think:

The New York Times: "Cline gorgeously maps the topography of one loneliness-ravaged adolescent heart. She gives us the fictional truth of a girl chasing danger beyond her comprehension, in a Summer of Longing and Loss."

The New Yorker: "'The Girls' never entirely succeeds in justifying itself — in making the case that there was anything personally or historically necessary about Cline’s decision to raid the American-culture store and pluck one of the best-known and most lurid episodes from the shelf."

Opening lines:

"I looked up because of the laughter, and kept looking because of the girls.

I noticed their hair first, long and uncombed. Then their jewelry catching the sun. "

Notable passage:

"The intensity of his attention seemed exposing, and I laughed a little. I was just starting to learn how to be looked at. I took a deep drink. The glass was full of vodka, cloudy with the barest slip of orange juice. I coughed.

"'Your parents let you drink?' I asked, wiping my mouth.

"'I do what I want,' he said, proud and uncertain at the same time."

The Girls
by Emma Cline
Random House, $27.00
Publishes June 14, 2016

The Bottom Line is a weekly review combining plot description and analysis with fun tidbits about the book.

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A comic book filled with myth, adventure and humor, written and illustrated by Inuit and northern Canadians, tells stories of the Far North – and quashes cliches.

The world was first introduced to Arctic Comics at Expo ’86, when Vancouver, Canada hosted the World’s Fair. Artist and storyteller Nicholas Burns, who had moved to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut a few years earlier, assembled the collection of tales of life in Canada’s far north for the Northwest Territories Pavilion. All 60,000 copies were snapped up. “There were lines around the block to get it,” he said.

Thirty years on, Burns has reopened the story vault to issue another edition of Arctic Comics. Like the first volume, the current anthology, published by Renegade Arts Entertainment, aims to entertain as it educates. “It’s all action and adventure,” Burns said.

The book’s target audience lies on both sides of the Arctic Circle. “People are drawn to pop-culture versions of their own culture,” he said. “But I also wanted to get people more aware of the Arctic, rather than the cliches of people living in igloos. There are stories of the past, stories of the present and a story about the future.”

Burns wrote three of the stories – Blizzard House, The Great Slo-Pitch Massacre and Film Nord – and worked with other writers and artists to complete the 80-page book.

Author Michael Kusugak, who wrote the children’s book A Promise is a Promise with Robert Munsch, adapted his poem “On Waiting” into a meditative story about an Inuk boy growing up in the north.

“When I was a little kid, I would take a .22 and go down to the beach and prop it up on a rock and wait until there was a seal close enough to shoot. You lie there and wait and wait and wait,” said Kusugak. “Your mind begins to wander.”

The story indulges the boy’s wandering mind as he thinks about the ocean, his grandfather and playing soccer on the sea ice with a ball made of caribou skin and stuffed with moss and fur. It all comes together as he dreams about the Northern Lights, which Inuit say are the souls of the dead playing soccer overhead.

Kusugak hopes the story will encourage readers to reflect on their surroundings more often. In On Waiting, the boy watches the tides go in and out, tiny waves lap the rocks and jellyfish come and go. “We don’t spend a lot of time just sitting and watching for hours and hours,” Kusugak said. “It’s a different experience than going somewhere and taking a picture.”

Kusugak also hopes the stories will dispel misconceptions about Inuit. “We were always portrayed as a very simple people who lived hand-to-mouth,” he said.

Michael’s brother, Jose Kusugak, who died in 2011, contributed a story about Kiviuq, a legendary Inuit shaman, to the book. “It’s a tale my grandmother told me when I was a little boy and would sleep in her igloo,” said Kusugak. Jose’s story diverges from the one Michael recalls hearing his grandmother tell. “Even in the same family, you remember stories differently,” he said.

Kusugak travels the world sharing Inuit stories. “When I tell a story, people say, ‘You should write that down so that it isn’t forgotten,’ but if you write it down and don’t tell the story, it gets forgotten anyway,” he said. “You have to go out and tell the story to keep it alive.”

During one trip to northern Quebec, Kusugak told the stories in the original Inuktitut language to audiences of adults and children.

“This old woman came walking in on a cane and carrying a pillow,” he said. “She set the pillow down in front of me and lay her head on it. She had her eyes closed the whole time and had a beautiful smile on her face. At the end she came up to me and said ‘Thank you, thank you. The priest came to my village when I was a girl and said we could never tell these stories again. I felt like a little girl again.’”

Arctic Comics mostly sets out to entertain, but Burns said comics can also teach their readers something new.

Decades ago, Burns used his talent for illustrated storytelling to create educational comics for younger audiences. In one, the Inuk superhero Super Shamou encouraged kids to stay in school. In another, Super Shamou discouraged solvent abuse. Burns found that the comic resonated with kids. “They said they weren’t going to sniff glue ‘because Super Shamou told me not to’,” he said.

Educational comics could also play a role in advancing reconciliation among Canadians, as outlined within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action. “One thing educational comics can do is present those issues in a less didactic way,” said Burns.

Burns would like to eventually publish Arctic Comics in Inuktitut. And he hopes that other books will follow. “There is no shortage of stories,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Arctic Deeply. For weekly updates about Arctic geopolitics, economy, and ecology, you can sign up to the Arctic Deeply email list

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When Simone Golumb misses her home of Glasgow, Scotland, there's one thing that always makes her feel better: watching Disney movies.

Her boyfriend, art director Jason Shoffman, kept that in mind when planning to propose to her in London where they live -- and to say he went all out is an understatement. Jason lured Simone to a fake Disney art exhibition that he had created and had the whole thing filmed by Oxygen Visuals. Watch it below:

The first floor of the exhibit featured lithographic Disney prints that Jason found on eBay. But that was simply a distraction. Downstairs, Jason was waiting with a diamond ring and personalized Disney-style prints depicting important moments in their relationship.

The prints are full of personal details, including a combination of both their last names, "Goffy," in place of the words "Walt Disney."

“My day job is to come up with ideas, as an art director in advertising, but this one took a long time to fashion,” Jason told The Huffington Post. “The whole engagement took around three months to put together, from inception to realization."

After the big engagement, Jason had one more surprise waiting for Simone: he had flown in her parents from Scotland and they were waiting for her at his mother's home.

"[Simone] was telling the story of what happened to the room full of family we had there, and some had their phones out ready to capture her mum and dad coming in," Jason said. "She even said 'why is everyone looking at me funny?' and then her mum and dad knocked on the outside window from the garden and she started crying in disbelief."

Jason and Simone's love story is a modern day fairy tale.

"I was working on an advertising pitch for a well-known cosmetics brand, along with [my coworker] Hayley, who was the strategist on the project," Jason said. "One day I walked past her computer and she was looking at an Instagram page... I looked at her screen and saw the most beautiful blonde, Scottish siren. I thought she was a celebrity -- her beauty was that undeniable -- but Hayley told me it was a very good friend of hers."

Hayley connected the two on WhatsApp, and Jason took it upon himself to pitch a date to Simone.

"She laughed at the pitch and said she was sitting with her dad at lunch who told her she has to go on a date with me," Jason said. "Two weeks later, and after multiple phone and text conversations, Simone came down to London for our first date, in which I promised her the 'gold package treatment.' I took her out for dinner, followed by ice skating. Each hour of our date I had a gift wrapped for her in gold paper, within which was something to prove I had been meticulous in my attention to detail when conversing with her."

Six months later, Simone moved to London and they lived happily ever after.

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The cast and creative team of Broadway's "Kinky Boots” put a whimsical spin on the ongoing "bathroom bill” debate with a hilarious new music video. 

Released Friday, "Just Pee (Where You Wanna Pee)" shows the Tony-winning musical's diverse cast -- including stars Alan Mingo, Jr. and Andy Kelso -- using a restroom at New York's Al Hirschfeld Theatre together without incident.

The song itself is a parody of "Just Be," which concludes the musical's second act -- albeit with revamped, topical lyrics.

"Just pee, with dignity/Go relieve yourself triumphantly," the cast croons.

Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the music, and book writer Harvey Fierstein also sound off on the controversy in the video, which quickly racked up over 60,000 views after being posted on the musical's official Facebook page early Friday afternoon.  

"There's been a lot of crazy talk about people using bathrooms for things other than prescribed by the Plumbers' Union of America," Lauper says. "All we're asking for is a little sanity. People have to pee!" 

Adds Fierstein, "Instead of fighting, maybe we can use this moment to learn a little something." 

We'd say they pretty much NAILED it. 

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You know you're the greatest when millions admire you, including music icon Prince. 

Muhammad Ali's death on Friday came just over a month after the legendary singer died. 

Ali lived a life of purpose and passion. His influence extended well beyond the boxing ring and he left a lasting impact on his many admirers. Prince was one of them. 

The musician met Ali for the first time at a 1997 press conference intended to promote The World Healing Honors, a benefit concert raising money for charities that confronted and worked to eliminate bigotry and prejudice around the globe, according to The Los Angeles Times. 

The pair had much in common: both were incredibly talented, shared passionate religious beliefs and used their platforms to speak out about issues most important to them. 

On the day they met, the two stars sat onstage together as Prince shared powerful words about his admiration for Ali. 

“My friend called me a couple of days ago and asked me. He said, Muhammad wants you to --  and I said 'Yes,'" the singer told a crowd of reporters. "I didn’t even let him finish. He could have said, 'Mow the lawn,' and I would have been down with it. Muhammad’s my hero. He has been since I was a child. As you can see, he’s such an inspiration to many people.”

Read More:

Muhammad Ali, Boxing Legend And Anti-War Icon, Dies At 74

Muhammad Ali Risked It All When He Opposed The Vietnam War

Watch Muhammad Ali’s Perfect Response To ‘Not All White People Are Racist’ — In 1971

Celebrities Remember Muhammad Ali With Heartfelt Tributes

5 Stories You Didn’t Know About Muhammad Ali

This Is How Muhammad Ali Wanted To Be Remembered

Prince Barely Kept His Cool The First Time He Met Muhammad Ali

Don't Let Muhammad Ali's Story Get Whitewashed

The Exact Moment Muhammad Ali Silenced His Critics

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Muhammad Ali was a man made of love, kindness and faith.

In a 1974 interview with journalist David Frost, Ali said these were three of several qualities that he hoped people would always remember about him, long after the day he died.

Sadly, that day came Friday.

During the interview, Frost asked Ali: "What would you like people to think about you when you've gone?" 

Ali's response was a recipe for life that we should all aim to uphold. Read it in full below or watch it in the video above. R.I.P. to the Greatest. 

Read More:

Muhammad Ali, Boxing Legend And Anti-War Icon, Dies At 74

Muhammad Ali Risked It All When He Opposed The Vietnam War

Watch Muhammad Ali’s Perfect Response To ‘Not All White People Are Racist’ — In 1971

Celebrities Remember Muhammad Ali With Heartfelt Tributes

5 Stories You Didn’t Know About Muhammad Ali

This Is How Muhammad Ali Wanted To Be Remembered

Prince Barely Kept His Cool The First Time He Met Muhammad Ali

Don't Let Muhammad Ali's Story Get Whitewashed

The Exact Moment Muhammad Ali Silenced His Critics

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Muhammad Ali's sensational spirit extended well beyond the boxing ring.

Ali, who sadly passed away Friday, was a man of charisma and charm. He exuded this not only in his role as a champion boxer but also as a beloved son and community member who brought joy to those who knew him. 

The pictures below show just a glimpse of the dynamic personality Ali proudly presented. Take a look at some of the Greatest's greatest everyday moments and admire the legend and all he stood for.

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In 1952, iconic street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson published a book titled Images a la Sauvette or, as the American version is called, The Decisive Moment. The latter title is a nod to Cardinal de Retz's quote, blurbed at the beginning of Cartier-Bresson's book: "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment."

The words aptly summarize the great image-maker's style. "In photography, you've got to be quick, quick, quick, quick," Cartier-Bresson once explained. "Like an animal and a prey." Because to him, photography was "the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression." Of course, a photographer could very well encounter a plurality of decisive moments in their career. Thus Cartier-Bresson would amend the title slightly, in fellow photographer Martin Parr’s personal copy of the book, so that it read: The More or Less Decisive Moments.

More than half a century after the publication of his book, Magnum Photos -- the international photography collective Cartier-Bresson founded in 1947 -- is paying tribute to this idea of "decisive moments" in pictures. In honor of its 70th birthday, Magnum is hosting a five-day online sale, appropriately dubbed "The (More or Less) Decisive Moments," consisting of a group of spectacular split-second shots chosen by 60 different photographers, past and present.

To round out the project, each photographer -- or, in some cases, a photographer's relative or estate representative -- wrote an explanation of what makes each shot so decisive. The explanations, along with the images available to purchase for $100, will be on view from June 6 to June 10, 2016. See a preview of 10 of the selected images below.

NEWSHKA TAVAKOLIA

“For my project 'Listen' I made a series of imaginary CD covers for six women singers. I shot several situations, but this one, taken on the shores of the Caspian Sea, came about by a stroke of luck. My sister (the model) was waiting in the freezing water, waves were breaking all around her, there was wind and there were onlookers. I hurriedly made a series of shots, focusing on her while she was withstanding the elements. I remember driving home wondering if I had gotten the picture I wanted. I shot analogue so had no way of knowing. When I got the contact sheets it became clear that for one image everything that I was looking for had fallen into place: two waves are breaking at exactly the right moment, her position is just as I hoped it to be. Most importantly, her gaze, straight into the lens, for me at least, completes the picture."

ALEX WEBB

“Probably no photographer has influenced me for as long as Henri Cartier-Bresson. For some 50 years, I’ve been drawn to his early, pre-war work with its surreal ambiguity. However, ever since I first saw my father’s copy of The Decisive Moment in the late 1960s, I’ve been uneasy with the title. The notion of a ‘decisive moment’ seems just too pat, too unpoetic for such a complicated vision. Years later, it was gratifying to discover that the original French title was Images à la Sauvette -- ’Images on the Sly’ -- a humbler notion more in the spirit of his early street photographs, work that embraces the mystery and uncertainty of collaborating with the world. ‘It is the photo that takes you,’ as he once said.

"There are many photographs of mine that have ‘taken’ me. I chose 'Havana, 1993' because Cuba, then, seemed suspended in time, echoing the feel of the Spanish streets in the 1930s that Cartier-Bresson photographed so memorably. I suspect that the Cartier-Bresson I knew would have been skeptical of the color of this homage to him -- but I’d like to think his younger, surrealistic self would have at least appreciated the two boys in the background with that soccer ball hovering overhead, out of reach forever."

HIROJI KUBOTA

“This photo has become well known, which is, in a way, quite understandable, but for the people of Burma or Myanmar, especially Buddhists, the way I composed this without a holy pagoda on the top of the rock is disturbing. I went to the rock three times, and I visited the wonderful land and people, so opposite of America, well over 50 times between 1975 and '78. It has a lot to do with my coverage on the fall of Saigon for a popular American weekly magazine for six weeks in 1975. I was desperate to keep a distance from America for a while; luckily, I found Burma and its gentle and compassionate people. In the spring of 1978, on the top of the hill where I took this photo, I had two Leica bodies: the one with Tri-X and the other with Kodachrome 64. Soon after, I realized that the color one looked very colorful and was more powerful. That was my decisive moment, to become a color photographer.”

EVE ARNOLD

“I never knew anyone who even came close to Marilyn in natural ability to use both photographer and still camera. She was special in this, and for me there has been no one like her before or after. She has remained the measuring rod by which I have -- unconsciously -- judged other subjects."

BRUNO BARBEY

“I remembered the 1930 photograph by Martin Munkacsi of three backlit kids running towards the foamy waves of Lake Tanganyika: Cartier-Bresson said it had inspired his work. In my picture, the children’s movement seems broken down into its successive phases, as in a Muybridge photograph; one child still has a foot on the river bank, others are flying all the way up in the air; several are touching the river’s surface. The river is like a murky mirror that reflects their shadows, grouped in a perfect triangle.

"In the 1960s, most Magnum photographers, except for Ernst Haas, used black and white, in part because magazines did not reproduce color well, but when I went to Brazil I was astounded by the light and color, so similar to Morocco where I had spent my youth. My response was to start shooting in Kodachrome 2. The film was slow but perfect because of its resistance to heat and humidity. As of that year, color became an essential component to my work: color was my decisive moment.”

MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BROWN

“Sometimes I’m able to capture a decisive moment and other times, call it slow or lazy, I’m just dumbfounded by what is in front of me and am either late or I completely forget about photography and take no picture. In this case, I was lucky the dumbfounded-ness allowed me to at least be late and to take a ‘more or less’ decisive moment. It is ‘more or less’ decisive because when I consider the decisive moment I of course think of Henri Cartier-Bresson and a photograph with a subject engaged in a moment that lasts a fraction of a second. In this image there is a moment with the street barber and his tools, but it is secondary to the boy’s expression,the subject, which continued for at least a minute. From the time I first spotted him amid a flurry of shoppers during rush hour in downtown Dalian, China, until after the photograph was taken he was still as a stone, just like this.”

CHIEN-CHI CHANG

“Rowing with paddles attached to their legs so as to leave their hands free, fishermen on Northern Inle Lake, Myanmar, are today largely a tourist attraction. They play to the appeal of a land untouched by modernity. A decisive moment might have been when a fisherman was caught in the act of catching a fish, but now there are hardly any fish left. These fishermen are performers using Inle Lake as a backdrop, and thus the decisive moment is a moment of grace, when the light is right, the circles are in harmony, the legs upraised just so. Click.”

TIM HETHERINGTON

“How spontaneous is that glance? It’s hard to know if Tim made this portrait as a caught moment or as a process, but we do know that it was purposeful. Having deliberately identified it as a rubber tire, Tim further annotated the image with historical data: in 1926 the Firestone Rubber Tire Company signed a 99-year lease with the Liberian Government and rubber manufacture became the backbone of the economy. He later returned to the picture to note that in 2005 Firestone was sued in the US for slavery and use of child labor. Tim stored his photographic moments like bottles of wine, maybe inactive for years but never forgotten, and he would dip into the cellar to turn them occasionally until the moment matured.” -- Stephen Mayes, Tim Hetherington Trust

SUSAN MEISELAS

"The eye seeks a frame within which a gesture is suspended, motion frozen and all in balance. One can wander or wait to recognize and capture it."

SOHRAB HURA

“I sat there on the beach, thinking of you: the black of you in all that white, tail rolling into whiplash. You had all of a sudden nipped your head back at me. Jowls hanging, ready to bellow a bark, your body curved perfectly in line with the deep slight arc in the snow above you. How that 25-year-old me wished hopelessly that I had met you before Josef had. And just then in a blink of an eye the dog crossed over to a past frame.This is perhaps the last photo from a time when, for me, photography was all about the idea of ‘the decisive moment.' Thank goodness I soon found a world far larger than it.”

"The (More or Less) Decisive Moments" explores the ways in which the notion of "decisive moment" -- long associated with Magnum co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson -- is manifest in the work of Magnum photographers today. Signed or estate-stamped prints for $100 from over 60 photographers and artists will be available for a limited time, from 9 a.m. EST on Monday, June 6, until 11 p.m. Friday, June 10, 2016. All photos shown here are courtesy of Magnum Photos and the noted photographers and estates.

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After 20 seasons (not to mention 12 seasons of "The Bachelorette"), America's sweetheart reality show "The Bachelor" has yet to star a black lead.

Sure, each season starts out with a few black, biracial, and occasional Latina or Asian contestants splashed into the mix -- especially as the show has aged and confronted criticism and a lawsuit about its whiteness -- but really just enough to dim the "Aryan Dating Game" aura over the whole affair. On "The Bachelor," our country's race issues are most apparent by how invisible race (and non-whiteness in general) is.

For Lifetime scripted drama "UnREAL," which revolves around a fictional reality dating show called "Everlasting," the move to cast a black bachelor -- the crushworthy B.J. Britt as NFL quarterback Darius Beck -- took just two seasons. And they're not stopping with that superficial nod to racial politics. With the second season poised to premiere Monday at 10 p.m., previews have already revealed that the edgy show will dive right into the complex and layered issues of racial representation and tokenism, liberal paternalism, veiled bigotry and how these intractable problems can interact explosively with television networks' thirst for ratings and social media chatter.

Prior to the show's premiere, co-creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and showrunner Carol Barbee spoke frankly with HuffPost's Bachelor recap podcast, "Here to Make Friends," about the nerve-wracking decision to make Season 2 of "UnREAL" revolve around race, and about how the show's writers worked to address those narratives accurately, sensitively and fearlessly.

On the decision to cast a black suitor:

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro: I came into the room this year after having talked to Carol about what I wanted to do, and then put it to the writers' room -- there are two women of color in our room, and [I] definitely gave them primary importance in that conversation -- and just said, this is what I would like to do this season, and I know it's really problematic. I'm really scared. I feel like it's going to be pretty uncomfortable at times. I feel like it's worth doing. Do you guys feel like it's worth doing? We had that conversation and it felt like everybody was on board, and it did feel worth doing.

On listening to writers of color when making a show about race:

Shapiro: [...] The first couple of weeks, a lot what we did was have those few writers talk about their experience as black women in terms of dating, and also there were conversations about football and black men, and violence against black men, and men in the media, and what it means to have a black romantic lead. We just spent a lot of time talking, and letting them talk and listening, because I think that was really important to me -- that we weren't prescribing what we should do, but that we were just listening to what their experience actually was. And then they pretty much had free rein for the rest of the season that, if they felt like we weren't hitting it right, to nix it. 

And then we had to go about just writing a TV show and coming up with the most interesting plot, but I think there were some really primary things put in place. I was shocked. I think, in those two weeks, I learned more about race than I could even have imagined, and I feel like I'm a person who's paid a lot of attention to it, but specifically some of the problems with white feminism when it comes to black women. That was something that I had peripherally thought about but I hadn't just actually sat and listened to two black women tell me about their experiences with it, and that was super informative to how we wrote Rachel and Ruby, who is the black activist character.

On capturing the humanity underlying the racial conflicts:

Carol Barbee: I'm from the South, I'm from North Carolina, and I've written about race a lot, it creeps into everything because it's the world I have always lived in. [...] So what I kept saying all along the way was, I'm all about writing about race, but let's just make sure that we do it in a really specific, truthful way, because what's really hard as a Southerner is when you see these stories told, the Southerners are all caricatures. [...] 

So that was my thing all the way through, was making sure that, literally, the character of Beth Ann, who's got the Confederate flag bikini on -- which is insane, like, the Confederate flag is the most hateful symbol, and it is in the South as well, there's a very small group of people who will say otherwise, so I know how offensive that symbol is. But to make that character real, and to have her be someone with a point of view where she's just never been outside of her own circle of family and friends, and she's just never been to the wider world and she's never questioned her beliefs or her bikini. Until she does. And what I love, love, love is how there's a line in there -- she actually falls in love with Darius while she's wearing a bikini with the Confederate flag, and there's this idea that racism is confusing, and race is confusing, and that's how it is in the South. [...]

I think everyone starts the season out, including the black bachelor, saying "I'm not about race, I don't have a big opinion, we're doing this because it'll be noisy television" -- but there comes a point in the season where nobody can stay on the fence anymore, where everybody has to figure out where they are.

On Rachel as white feminist:

Shapiro: It's also such great story fodder, also for Jay, who's a really wonderful character on our show, he's one of the other producers and he's black, and I think it was such great story fodder in terms of activating him, because Rachel brings in a black suitor, is taking all this credit for it, patting herself on the back for it, and treating him like a peon, ordering him around in terms of serving her greater purpose. The complexities of that are so fucked up and so hard to even look at. But that's when we were having the conversations about white feminism and white liberalism, and the privileges of having a liberal arts education and feeling really holier-than-thou, and the white paternalism of coming in and being like, "I know better for you guys, I'm going to save you and I'll make a right decision." We really thought about it in terms of Rachel just, again, patting herself on the back and taking credit for something she couldn't possibly understand.

On beating "The Bachelor" franchise to casting a black bachelor:

Shapiro: It wasn't the reason to do it. I think for me it was like, we have a platform; we have a responsibility to do something with that platform. We are what we are as a TV show, but I think that, again, it was one of the reasons we all held hands and said, "Let's do this," because it was better than not doing it. Even though it is problematic, even though it's a show run by two white women. That is problematic, but it's still worth doing.

It just takes the balls to do it even though you might get in trouble or even though ad sales might not like it, or whatever it is that scares ["The Bachelor"]. It's just taking that leap. And I think... it's time. 

Barbee: And not to sound too much like Quinn, but I really feel like in television the only safe place is the not safe place. The only place to really have a show that matters or that gets any sort of eyeballs on it is to do things that provoke, and I think it's a good conversation to have. 

Shapiro: I think that it's legitimately scary for them because I think that a black man dating white women is still really controversial in 2016, and I think that is absolutely insane, but it appears to be true. [...]

I also think it is a little antiquated. It does feel a little bit behind the times to me that they really feel like it would take down the show or that people would lose their jobs. I'm not sure that that's accurate at this point.

On not playing it safe: 

Shapiro: It definitely never felt safe. It never felt like a safe zone. It wasn't like we got to a place where we were like, "Oh, we're bullet-proof, nobody's going to freak out on Twitter. We are goodhearted people trying to do the best we can to write this story as honestly and humanly as we can, and we're probably going to fuck up at some point, but we think it's worth doing."

Listen to the full conversation on "Here to Make Friends" (interview starts at 28:58).

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Muhammad Ali was a man who meant so much to so many people. 

Ali, who died Friday, leaves behind a legacy that will forever influence those who admired him, especially young black boys who look to Ali as a hero and an example of black excellence and achievement in America.

This is why the Because Of Them campaign, a platform that features and shares inspiring messages from black youth about black icons, created a video featuring black boys wearing boxing gloves and reciting some of Ali's most powerful quotes, including this one (which Obama also mentioned in his remembrance of Ali): 

“I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize.  But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.” 

Watch these young men flex their greatness as they pay tribute to a man who stood as a symbol of activism, bravery and success. After all, this is why representation matters. 

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Before she was killing it on her show "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Rachel Bloom just wanted someone to watch the f**king Tony Awards with her.

Seriously.

Does anyone care about theater? Musicals? Incredible choreography? Emotion? You guys? 

The 2016 Tony Awards will air on CBS on Sunday, June 12, at 8 p.m. ET. From "Hamilton" to "Spring Awakening," "Eclipsed" to "The Humans," Sophie Okonedo to Leslie Odom Jr., check out our live coverage of all things Broadway on Twitter this weekend.

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James Corden is not throwing away his shot to be the best host in Tony Awards history.

In preparation for Sunday's ceremony, the late-night host traveled to the Big Apple to gather a bunch of Broadway faves, including "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, for a musical-theater-themed edition of “Carpool Karaoke.”

After spitting a few verses of the opening number of "Hamilton" -- quite impressively -- Corden picks up some Broadway legends. Enter Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who happily pile into his SUV for a sing-along that'll leave you feeling more than satisfied. 

The five-some go full-tilt Theater Queen with renditions of Broadway standards including "Seasons of Love" from "Rent" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" from "Jersey Boys."

But could any group of singers ever top this carpool's fully committed performance of "One Day More"? To answer that question, we'd probably need to actually score tickets to "Hamilton," but we're honestly just glad Russell Crowe isn't singing.

Can you say tres misérables?  

Watch all the Broadway goodness above. 

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Being a human is hard. And as a result, there are going to be days when you feel just a little bit down.  

One key to a more contented day is learning to stop comparing yourself to others. You are special the way you are, and giving energy to comparisons isn't as freeing as embracing yourself -- limitations, flaws and all. 

For some easy-to-remember mantras and messages, check out these doodles from Stuff No One Told Me, by artist Alex Noriega.

H/T Bored Panda

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Brooklyn-based photographer Lissa Rivera has been photographing her partner BJ for years.

Their collaboration began, as the artist writes on her website, as "a confession between two friends." BJ had, on the subway one evening, confessed to Rivera that he comfortably wore women's clothing in college, but since graduation, found it more difficult to embrace a genderqueer identity in public. She subsequently suggested using photography as a tool of experimentation, a process that could provide for BJ a safe space to explore notions of androgyny and gender fluidity in the presence of another person.

"Taking the first pictures was an emotional experience," Rivera explains of the shoots that took place soon after. "I connected with my friend’s vulnerability [...] Both of us have long, fraught relationships with femininity that have fundamentally shaped who we are. Our desires were matched." As time went on, she notes online, BJ and Rivera realized that they had unexpectedly fallen in love. Making images about shame, strength, and intimacy had transformed their relationship from one of friendship and collaboration, into one of romance and partnership. 

Rivera describes the photos of BJ as obsessive and decadent, collectively meant to push the boundaries of gender, desire, freedom, and cultural taboo with their saturated colors, cinematic poses, and sensual backdrops. But just as they are a reflection of BJ's personal experience with gender fluidity, the images reveal a shared experience between two people in the early moments of a partnership, performing romance together despite the fact that only one face appears before the camera. Rivera likens their emotional process to the ways bonds are formed between a director and an actress, or an artist and a muse; two people who grow to "share a deep connection to the fantasy captured."

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Rivera explains further what her series, named "Beautiful Boy," taught her about love, acceptance and creative expression.

After speaking with BJ about his desire to wear women's clothing, what made you want to collaborate with him on a photography project in particular?

I had been interested in the idea that popular notions of beauty are largely drawn from looking at repeated images. The quality of the image has an incredible power to create desire, and that desire can be to inhabit the space of subject. At the time I was working in the collections department of a museum where each day I was in charge of photographing and processing hundreds of images from a Broadway theater archive dating from the mid 19th to the late 20th century. Within this archive, I saw that conceptions of feminine beauty changed over time, and were not stable; I could not help but associate this with the public desire to replicate media images of celebrity. 

Before our conversation, I had already had the concern that people who are outside the norm of beauty are not photographed as well as those who fit into accepted standards. People outside the norm often do not see themselves represented in the media. BJ had only seen himself in women’s clothing in casual college snapshots and selfies taken during a period of isolation. If you have no experience with photography, your photos are often poorly lit, from unflattering angles, or taken with lenses that distort. The struggle to see one’s self is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can be traced through selfies posted on social media! I wanted to photograph BJ as if it were no question that he should be the subject of the photographs. I wanted to explore the history of the representation of femininity, placing him unquestionably in that place.

A few other things inspired me, as well. One was that I saw the trappings of femininity as something that was learned and culturally based. I wanted to share with him that even as a biological female, I had struggled to feel like I was passing as "female enough." Women are constantly faced with the pressures of "dressing for the occasion," of attaining a certain physical shape, of performing domestic duties, and at the same time not being too girly, of being sexual but not too sexual. I wanted to let BJ know that I had built my femininity largely through looking -- looking at films, at photographs, at other women. I did not feel that anything about the clothing and accessories of femininity were particularly biological.

Although we each came at it from very different perspectives, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for both of us to explore our conflicting feelings of desire and shame about femininity. As a photographer, it is not always easy to find a model so willing to collaborate. BJ was game. The potential was limitless. I wanted to show femininity as strength -- that wearing a dress wasn’t a signifier of weakness. I wanted to show gender as something that one could use to experience freedom, instead of constraint. I was excited at the anticipation of a project that could empower us both.  

Where did you take the photos, and how did you style the shots?

Most of the photographs were taken in the small kitchen of my Brooklyn apartment using rudimentary materials -- natural light, inexpensive backdrop stands, fabrics from discount stores, dresses I had in the back of my closet. As we became more familiar with the process, we organized a shoot at BJ’s former college, renting fabulous clothing for the occasion. Some photographs were taken in BJ’s childhood home. At the time those were taken, BJ was still having trouble communicating about this side of himself with his family. Those times were especially emotional. BJ and his family are now able to share more, which has been a huge accomplishment of this work. 

Once the project gained momentum, I became pretty obsessed with the styling. Many times we will watch a film or sift through vintage photographs, taking careful notes about details we find most tactile -- like the "punctum" described in Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida. Because I do the hair and make-up the only way I know how (which is practicing on myself), the images at times oscillate between being both portraits of BJ and of myself. 

You mention online that you were concerned with making sure the images were not a compromise for either you or the subject of the series. What exactly were you worried about here?

When we started the work, BJ did not know what his desire to be feminine meant for him. There is a tremendous pressure to label identities in our culture and he was feeling that. Because he was sharing something so personal in such a delicate stage in exploring his identity, I did not want to do anything to obstruct his freedom. I also did not want to create a documentary -- I wanted to use the medium of photography to make our fantasies reality. I did not want my vision to overpower his own or his mine. There is always that element of balance; when it swings my way it can reveal much about my own subconscious desires. 

When did you realize you were falling in love with him?

I realized I was falling in love early on in the project. BJ’s vulnerability and trust in me was so moving. Having him open up to me about something so personal released the floodgates to a tremendous amount of pain that I had been harboring. It changed my consciousness. I felt such a release from my obligations to perform "my proper role" or from being ashamed of not living up to the social expectations placed on women. To both release each other from the pressures of our gender was incredibly freeing. Here was a man that could be completely open emotionally, who could do so from such a place of empathy. Being in this relationship has offered me such a precious space of honesty. I feel freed from the pressures of my body, which has given me such peace. 

Do you think the photos are as much a reflection of one person's fluid experience with gender expression as they are a reflection of the romance that you both shared?

The photographs are about a shared experience of exploring the parameters of a new kind of relationship, of indulging one another, and creating the world we want to live in. In the images we play dress up, it is childlike and great fun. At the same time, we transcend boundaries of both class and gender. I feel like not many women have stood in my shoes, and it is incredibly enlightening. When I am with BJ, he is naturally androgynous, unafraid to be gentle and emotionally generous. We have taught each other to be more loving and accepting toward ourselves, which leaves us with more energy for creative expression.

You can see more of Lissa Rivera's photos on view at "EXPOSURE: The 20th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition," from April 28 to June 26, 2016, at the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, Massachusetts, as well as in "Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards Exhibition," a show on view at United Photo Industries in Brooklyn, New York, from June 2 to June 25, 2016.

You can also check out B-sides from "Beautiful Boy" here, and shots from the Ace Hotel here.

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