We haven’t seen much of Michelle Pfeiffer in recent years. Her last movie was the 2013 crime comedy “The Family,” and before that, the three-time Oscar nominee starred in a string of commercial and/or critical duds. No offense to “Hairspray,” but to find her last truly acclaimed role, we have to go back to 2002’s “White Oleander.” 

But that’s likely to change soon: 2017 is the year of Michelle Pfeiffer. 

In a new Interview magazine conversation with Darren Aronofsky, who directed Pfeiffer in the forthcoming “Mother!,” the actress explains that she grew so choosy with her shooting schedules that she became “unhirable.”

“Well, the first thing that comes to mind is I’m an empty nester now,” Pfeiffer said when asked about her impending comeback. “I’ve never lost my love for acting. I feel really at home on the movie set. I’m a more balanced person honestly when I’m working. But I was pretty careful about where I shot, how long I was away, whether or not it worked out with the kids’ schedule. And I got so picky that I was unhirable. And then ... I don’t know, time just went on. And now, you know, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I’m more open now, my frame of mind, because I really want to work now, because I can. And these last few years I’ve had some really interesting opportunities.”

This year, those opportunities include playing Ruth Madoff in the HBO movie “The Wizard of Lies” (airing in May), as well as Sundance’s “Where is Kyra?,” October’s “Mother!” and a role in Kenneth Branagh’s new adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery “Murder on the Orient Express,” opening in November. “Where is 

Having semi-disappeared for a few years will allow Pfeiffer to re-emerge in all her eminent glory. Now, for the next order of business: Someone cast her in a movie with Annette Bening.

“I have this weird synchronicity with Annette Bening,” she said. “I was supposed to do ‘Bugsy’ [1991]. I fell out of that. She did it, so she met Warren [Beatty]. That wouldn’t have happened. And then she was supposed to do ‘Batman Returns’ [1992]. She fell out of that. I replaced her. So, we’re always kind of tag-teaming.”

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017

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Unanimous opinions are hard to come by, but there are a few value judgements that come close: puppies are good, toothaches are bad, and Comic Sans is the worst font ever. Worse even than Curlz and Papyrus.

Bubbly and childlike, it was originally created to imitate the text of comic books, in an attempt to make computers appealing to kids. At least that’s Vincent Connare’s explanation. A typographer who worked for Microsoft in the ‘90s, he’s the man behind Comic Sans. Today, in The Guardian, he discussed the making of the font.

Connare explains:

One program was called Microsoft Bob, which was designed to make computers more accessible to children. I booted it up and out walked this cartoon dog, talking with a speech bubble in Times New Roman. Dogs don’t talk in Times New Roman! Conceptually, it made no sense.

So, he started flipping through comic books like “Watchmen” and “The Dark Night Returns” for inspiration. He tried to capture the spirit of their lettering, and found that he enjoyed ignoring the conventions of font-making. The resulting typeface caught on in the Microsoft office, mostly used for fun contexts like birthday parties.

Soon after Comic Sans was inducted into Microsoft Word’s font suite, a band of decriers approached Connare about starting a group devoted to banning the typeface. Connare ― who says he’s only used Comic Sans once, and believes the font fulfills its purpose of appealing to young typers ― gave them the go-ahead, describing the backlash as simultaneously “silly.”

“Type should do exactly what it’s intended to do,” he added The Guardian. “That’s why I’m proud of Comic Sans.” 

(Microsoft program manager Tom Stevens had his own take in The Guardian piece: “The level of hatred, was just amazing ― and quite frankly funny. I couldn’t believe people could be so worked up over something as simple as a font. It’s almost an anti-technology typeface: very casual, very welcoming.”)

The font’s creator isn’t its only defender; last month The Establishment reported that hating Comic Sans is ableist. For some readers with dyslexia, its unique characters make differentiating between letters easier, and in fact, Comic Sans is among a handful of fonts recommended by a number of dyslexia organizations.

So, before you write it off completely, remember there’s no one-font-fits-all solution. For some, the jaunty angles of Comic Sans are an aid, and for others, it’s simply a playful alternative.

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After a brief layover in Hawaii, former President Barack Obama is hanging out on a South Pacific island for a month to write his White House memoir, according to the Washington Post. 

The island, called Tetiaroa, is an atoll located in a group of French Polynesian islands. Its closest neighbor is Tahiti, which is roughly 30 miles away. Not only is it super private and exclusive, it’s also gorgeous:  

The island was once owned by actor Marlon Brando, who bought the property while scouting locations for his 1962 movie, “Mutiny on the Bounty.” A decade after Brando’s death in 2004, the property was acquired by hotel company Pacific Beachcomber and converted into an ultra-luxurious resort called The Brando.

Obama is reportedly staying at the 35-villa resort for most of his month on the island, and its eco-friendly reputation keeps in line with his own high environmental standards. According to its website, the resort eventually hopes to be 100 percent energy independent ― fueled by solar panels, generators powered by coconut oil and a contraption that converts seawater to air conditioning. 

Rooms start $2,800 per night and some are as expensive as $13,300 per night, but the amenities are simply outrageous. And considering Barack and Michelle Obama recently inked a book deal worth a reported $60 million, they can afford to splurge a little. 

If Barack decides to bring the whole family along for part of his stay, The Brando is both super family friendly and all-inclusive.

“This is an ideal resort for families as well as honeymooners and clients seeking seclusion,” Dan Ilves, senior vice president of Travel Store, told The Huffington Post for a previous story. “All activities are included and for those interested, there is an onsite marine research center.”

Other activities include snorkeling in a coral garden, swimming in a magical place called Mermaid Bay and enjoying the resort’s incredible spa. 

Getting to the island isn’t exactly easy, but it’s safe to say the end result is worth it.

Just copy the Obamas’ mode of getting to the island. Fly into Tahiti, then hop on a short, 20-minute flight to Tetiaroa. 

We’re pretty sure this is what Obama looks like right now (though he probably added a backwards hat and flip flops).  

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Years of war have left a generation of Syrian youth with limited access to education. Their schools have been bombed and many of them have been displaced by an ongoing civil war that shows no signs of letting up soon. An estimated 200,000 or more Syrians who were in college before and during the conflict are now in “an educational limbo,” according to Teach For America.

A group of young American activists is working to make a dent in that figure. Over the last year, their “Books Not Bombs” initiative has inspired U.S. students to petition their university administrations to establish scholarships for Syrian students impacted by the war. Thanks to their efforts, student chapters of the organization have formed at nearly 200 schools, and a handful of universities have set up funds to help Syrian scholars continue their studies.

But the project hit a potential roadblock in recent months, when President Donald Trump issued two attempts at an executive order to ban visas issued to individuals from several Muslim-majority countries, including Syria. Both orders have been challenged in court, and on March 15, a federal judge in Hawaii placed a nationwide hold on key aspects of Trump’s second shot at a travel ban.

The orders had already unleashed chaos and confusion, though, for refugees and travelers from the affected countries. But Shiyam Galyon, campaign coordinator for Books Not Bombs, is optimistic about the organization’s potential to make an impact.

“Regardless of what happens with the visa issue ― which students have been struggling with even before the travel ban ― there are already an estimated 2,500 resettled Syrian students who are already here in the U.S.,” Galyon told The Huffington Post, referencing a number provided by the Institute of International Education. The funds set up through Books Not Bombs can help these scholars too, she said.

Books Not Bombs is an initiative of Students Organize for Syria, a human rights organization with chapters at dozens of campuses around the country. The group aims to inspire student activists to fight for education for displaced Syrians. These young activists are passing campus-wide resolutions and calling on their universities to either set up scholarships or offer tuition fee waivers for Syrian scholars.

One of the group’s main aims is to encourage more and more universities to join IIE’s Syria Consortium, which provides a database for Syrian scholars to easily find and apply for scholarships. As members of the consortium, universities publicize that they have opportunities for Syrian students, either through specific initiatives or by advertising their already-existing international student scholarships. 

The University of Southern California joined the consortium last year and established scholarships for up to five Syrian graduate students and one undergraduate student. This year, Books Not Bombs activists at USC also worked in conjunction with the Graduate Student Government to set up an emergency fund to help undocumented and immigrant students. The fund, announced in early March, allocates $20,000 in emergency aid for students affected by Trump’s policies to apply for and renew their visas. 

Chris Lo-Records, a USC graduate student who also serves as campus coordinator for Books Not Bombs, said the group doesn’t have a political agenda apart from fighting for “universal access to education.”

“Our universities are international places where people from all walks of life and religious backgrounds and national origins come together and make contributions that are incredibly vital to the country and to the world,” he told HuffPost. 

The United States has a long history of offering sanctuary to refugee students. In the 1930s and ‘40s, an influx of scholars fleeing to the U.S. from Nazi persecution were able to continue their studies and make major contributions to the fields of science, engineering and art.

The struggle for education is one many young Americans likely never encounter, Galyon said. “I think a lot of Americans in their 20s might agree that education was something we took for granted. I know I did,” she said. “I never had to struggle for education, and as a result I don’t think I ever really understood why education was such a lifeline.”

But Galyon, who is Syrian American, has family members who have been displaced due to the conflict. She has cousins who may never be able to seek out educational opportunities in the U.S. under Trump, she said.

Galyon argued the crisis in Syria has served to awaken young Americans to the human rights violations taking place around the globe. It and other major conflicts have galvanized young activists, many of whom are Muslim women. Of Books Not Bombs’ 25 active student leaders, a majority of them are Muslim women, Galyon said.

“They’re all brilliant young women growing up in a time where their own human rights are under attack,” she told HuffPost.

Galyon noted that there’s nothing particularly new about Muslim women engaging in activism and social justice, but their voices are becoming more prominent largely thanks to social media and greater news coverage. “People shouldn’t be surprised to see that a campaign like this is being lead by Muslim women,” Galyon said. “And they should expect a lot more of it.”

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We all know Starbucks baristas have a curious habit of misspelling names on cups. But it’s not every day their bloopers end up in a feature film.

In a new interview with CNN, “Star Wars: Rogue One” director Gareth Edwards revealed how he came up with the name for Scarith, an imaginary planet introduced in December’s blockbuster movie.

“I go over to get a coffee from Starbucks. I’m thinking, ‘What could be the name? It could be this. Maybe we could use that?’ Then at the very end, she gives me the drink and they must have asked my name and I must have said, ‘It’s Gareth,’ but they heard ‘Scarif.’ They wrote Scarif on the cup and I was like, ‘That sounds like Star Wars.’”

We always knew those latte vessels were inspiring. And we can’t wait for the new heroine “Gessika.”

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Actor-singer Ben Yahr channeled Justin Bieber, Amy Schumer and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine for a new music video that he hopes will inspire members of the queer community to embrace their bodies. 

Yahr, who is based in Los Angeles, recreated steamy photos of the aforementioned superstars in the video for “Shape of Me,” which can be viewed above. The 27-year-old “body positivity activist” struck Bieber’s Calvin Klein campaign pose as well as Levine’s charity photo for prostate and testicular cancer awareness in the March 23 clip, which was directed by Matthew Dean Stewart. He also put his take on famous nude or semi-nude shots of Schumer and Miley Cyrus. 

“Fit me in the puzzle, ‘cause I am the perfect piece,” Yahr sings in the song, which features music and lyrics by Ryan Amador. “I’ll show off my body, ‘cause I love the shape of me.”  

Yahr shot to viral fame in February after he recreated Beyoncé’s pregnancy photos in a stunning pictorial that was featured in The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, People and other media outlets. He told HuffPost that he hopes to further spread his message of body positivity with “Shape of Me,” which he said is “about loving yourself from head to toe, warts and all.”

Recent buzz over Logo’s forthcoming reality series, “Fire Island,” reminded Yahr that “only one type of gay man” is represented in popular culture. “We are conditioned from such a young age by the media that only certain shapes should be celebrated, which is why I decided to use iconic photos of celebrities,” he said. “If there was a brochure of our community, would all of us be included?”  

Despite the serious aim of “Shape of Me,” Yahr hopes viewers are inspired to “let loose and shake it” after watching his “silly, naked and joyous” video. “All bodies are beautiful and praise-worthy,” he said, adding, “Life is too short not to dance around in your underwear, right?”

For the latest in LGBTQ entertainment, check out the Queer Voices newsletter.

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One boyfriend is putting his Disney fanatic girlfriend in “a whole new world” with nothing but his stylus pen and some epic drawing skills. 

Amin Fouzi and his girlfriend Lyana Azman are both 21-year-old students from Malaysia who are currently studying in Melbourne. Last week, the couple was waiting for food at a restaurant when Amin snapped a quick pic of Lyana.

This wasn’t just any dinner with bae photo, though; Amin proceeded to turn the pic into bonafide art on Instagram Stories: 

Lyana, a huge fan of all things Disney, was very impressed. 

“I didn’t know he was actually going to draw me as Snow White, so when I saw it, I thought it was so cool,” she told The Huffington Post. “I especially love the ‘poisonous apple’ line, referring to my iPhone.” 

Since then, Amin has turned Lyana into a number of classic Disney princesses. Here’s his take on Mulan: 

And here’s Alice from “Alice in Wonderland:” 

Heres’s Lyana wearing Aurora’s iconic pink gown from “Sleeping Beauty”: 

Lyana told us that her boyfriend finishes each drawing in less than five minutes.

“Every time Amin has to draw anything, he can do it in a short period of time and they’ll all come out amazing,” she said.

Her favorite Instagram doodle is one depicting her as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast:”

“I love it because she’s my favorite Disney princess and also because I just watched the new live-action movie!”  

People on Twitter ― where Lyana first posted the pics ― are super impressed with Amin’s drawings. 

Yep, we’d have to agree. 

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Move over, “Property Brothers” ― “Trading Spaces” is ready to make its return to the world of home renovation TV. That’s right, the beloved TLC show is returning to television in 2018, keeping the age of the reboot alive and well. 

Nancy Daniels, TLC general manager, shared the announcement on Tuesday at the Discovery Communications Upfront presentation.

“This is a big one,” Daniels said, according to A.V. Club. “I am excited to announce that TLC’s most successful and most iconic series, ‘Trading Spaces,’ is coming back.”

In a press release, Daniels dubbed the show, which initially ran from 2000 to 2008, “the series that put property on the map.” TLC had nothing new to add when The Huffington Post reached out for comment.

Since details about the reboot and how it will unfold are pretty sparse, we are left with a few questions: Will the families get more than a mere $1000 budget for their renos? Will Paige Davis come back to host? (HuffPost reached out to Davis to find out, and will update this post accordingly.) Will Hildi Santo Tomas and her wacky designs ― Sand on the floor! Hay on the walls! Furniture on the ceiling! ― return? And what about Ty Pennington? 

Hopefully, we get more information soon. But in the meantime, we suggest you relive the show’s glory days with some of the best “hate it” reveals: 

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

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A new PSA is showing how language can subtly reinforce rape culture. 

The 30-second video is simple but powerful, focusing on a text message conversation between two guy friends. As the conversation goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that a non-consensual sexual interaction between one of the men and a woman may have occurred the night prior. The PSA takes the casual language used between two bros and makes its subtext the actual text. 

When one guy asks his friend if he remembers that “drunk chick” he was “talking to” at a recent party, the chat autocorrects “talking to” to “targeting.” When the friends asks if he “got some,” the guy responds, “Well... I had to encourage her a bit.” “Encourage” quickly autocorrects to “force.”

The spot was created by marketing company Mekanism for sexual assault awareness and prevention organization It’s On Us, which was spearheaded in 2014 by former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden.

It’s On Us Director Rebecca Kaplan explained to The Huffington Post why it’s so important to call out these subtleties of language. 

“At It’s On Us, we believe it’s important to highlight the subtle and common language that perpetuates rape culture because it’s so pervasive in our society and often goes unnoticed,” Kaplan said. “When we don’t check ourselves and our friends who are using that type of language, we make it acceptable. This is dangerous because language can make rape culture acceptable, and even perpetuate it.”

Towards the end of the video a voiceover sums up the PSA: “Don’t ignore the subtexts.” 

As Kaplan added: “What we say matters and this video was created to demonstrate that it’s on all of us to choose our words wisely.”

Head over to It’s On Us to read more about the organization’s work. 

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

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Just call him Jackson Paw-lock.

A 4-year-old shiba inu named Hunter from Alberta, Canada has learned the fine trick of creating art.

Hunter’s human, Kenny Au, told the Huffington Post that he and his wife, Denise Lo, are always looking for new things to teach their smart pup because he’s very intelligent and loves to learn. Au said Hunter likes doing dog puzzles, had “got as far as he could go” in regards to agility courses and was aching for a new hobby. About a month ago, Lo came up with a brilliant idea.

“We had a blank space on our wall and we were looking for things to put up on it,” Au told HuffPost. “Because Hunter is such a calm, careful and responsive dog, my wife figured he’d be able to learn the brushing motions to create some kind of memento for us. We were really surprised by the results.”

Au says that Hunter really loves to paint and will bark and stare at his owners when he wants to do a painting.

“When he first learned it, he wanted to do it all the time,” said Au. “But we make sure we switch things up often so he doesn’t overdo himself or get bored. With painting, we’ve incorporated it into his daily routine and he seems to love having a job. It makes him more calm throughout the day.”

Shortly after Hunter began to paint, Au decided to post a picture of Hunter with a paintbrush in his mouth to Reddit and got a lot of positive feedback. Hunter even became the subject of a Photoshop Battle.

As Hunter continued to create more paintings, the couple decided to start an Instagram page for him and then eventually an Etsy shop, where people can buy his masterpieces for $38.52 a pop.

The couple is also working with their local dog shelter, Second Chance Animal Rescue Society, and are donating paintings to them to raise money.

Au said he and Lo will continue to have Hunter create paintings as long as he’s into it. If he gets bored of it, they’ll stop. And according to Au, Hunter has no problem communicating how he’s feels.

“He thinks of us more as his companions than his masters,” Au said. “So if he thinks we are treating him unfairly, he will let us know.”

Good boy!

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Donald J. Trump might say he loves to read, but what we know for sure is that the president loves to tweet. So, “The Daily Show” announced Tuesday that it has decided to open The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library to commemorate the many great tweets of our current commander in chief. 

Certainly, we should properly recognize great moments in American presidential history like this one:

The show said in a release that this is going to be an “actual library” located in New York City. It will be open to the public for free for a brief period starting in June. 

“It will be so tremendous that you’ll get tired of the tremendousness, so it will then close only a few days later,” the show said in the press release. “Sad!”

What, exactly, does any of this really mean? We can’t say for sure, but here is the most specific the release got: 

The exhibit will feature a fully interactive and hands-on experience for hands of all sizes, giving patrons the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to memorialize and celebrate the many “unpresidented” moments of President Trump’s Twitter history. More details to be announced later.

“The Daily Show” is currently in the midst of trying to figure out the greatest Trump tweet of all time in the bracketed styling of March Madness, so we’re just going to assume it’s related to that. 

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

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We can only imagine how Ron Swanson would do on a show like this.

According to Deadline, NBC just ordered six episodes of “The Handmade Project,” a crafting reality TV show from Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions. Per the outlet, Poehler will host alongside her “Parks and Recreation” co-star Nick Offerman.

Yes, you read that right: Leslie Knope. Ron Swanson. Crafts.

Apparently, the show will feature eight crafty types, each competing for the stamp of approval from Poehler, Offerman, and some “expert judges.” Each week will have a theme, and the difficulty of crafty tasks will increase over time until one artisan is named the winner.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Offerman — who has been known to dabble in woodworking — said of the collaboration, “People who make things are my favorite kind of folk. Practical, clever and terrific in a pinch. That makes me tickled pink to have a front row seat at this prodigious display of talent, and admiring and cheering on an amazing crop of American makers.”

If this statement is any indication, the series will be as full of quirky cheer as your average jaunt to Pawnee, Indiana. We’re in.

Etsy sellers, knitters, welders, hot glue gunners and all crafty types are encouraged to apply at the show’s casting website.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31 on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

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Black women on Twitter are fed up with the way they are treated in the workplace so they are sharing their experiences on Twitter. 

Activist Brittany Packnett kicked off the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork on Tuesday afternoon in response to the disrespectful ways in which two prominent black women were treated by public figures throughout the day. 

On Tuesday’s morning episode of “Fox & Friends,” the network’s Bill O’Reilly mocked Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) by saying he was too distracted by her “James Brown” wig to listen to anything she had to say about President Donald Trump. He has since issued an apology, claiming it was all “a jest.” Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer scolded White House correspondent April D. Ryan and told her to stop shaking her head. This happened before a room full of journalists, and it was televised and broadcast on national TV. 

Packnett said that both incidents were unacceptable, but also unfortunately familiar. 

“I’m surrounded everyday by brilliant, confident, incredible black professional women who get demeaned despite their prowess. Today, I was over it,” Packnett told The Huffington Post. “I have deep an abiding respect for Congresswoman Waters and Ms. Ryan who are both trailblazers in their fields.  They are to be respected, just like every other black woman who rises each day to contribute to this society in ways that are all-too-often taken for granted.” 

As a way to help address these issues, Packnett encouraged black women online to share some of their real-life experiences at work.   

“I wanted the hashtag to make the invisible visible, to challenge non-black people to stand with black women not just when this happens on television, but in the cube right next to them,” she said. “I’m also glad stories of triumph and achievement got shared through the hashtag as well ― black women are more than just our woes, we are triumphant.”

Read through the tweets below to get a glimpse of the reality some black women face in the workplace: 

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In “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne have 10 hours to save a universe. Meanwhile, Rihanna stages a galactic cabaret show and Clive Owen barks orders. 

It’s all in the name of one of summer’s big movie events. The latest from “The Fifth Element” and “Lucy” director Luc Besson, “Valerian” looks part “Star Wars,” part “Avatar,” part “Jupiter Ascending” and all bonkers.

Watch the trailer above. The movie opens July 21.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017

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What makes up a song?

There are the basic elements: notes, a rhythm, melody, perhaps vocals or instrumentation of some kind. Yet the heart of a song, the inscrutable way it reaches out to listeners, unites strangers, marks a personal or collective era, is a bit harder to get at. 

With his podcast “Song Exploder,” musician Hrishikesh Hirway — who also has a podcast devoted to “The West Wing” — helps to fill out the answer. Each episode since the show’s inception in 2014 takes one track from a musician or group’s catalog and allows an artist to break down the song in his or her own words. Who’s been on it? Some bigger names include Solange, Carly Rae Jepsen, U2, Metallica, DJ Shadow, Wilco and Iggy Pop, and the show’s indie-but-well-known roster could rival a Brooklyn resident’s most-played on Spotify: Grimes, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Phantogram and tUnE-yArDs.

“I wanted the show to demonstrate this idea that there’s so much going on within any song,” Hirway told The Huffington Post last month. “Normally, we hear music and it’s just the finished product. It’s just a little bit opaque; you don’t really know what’s going on or how it got there. But there are so many decisions that come from so many different places, whether it’s inspiration, or accident, or experimentation, and trial and error.”

Hirway starts each episode with a brief introduction before stepping back. You can detect the host’s hand in the well-crafted sound production — often, isolated musical elements from a given song will chime in as the artist is verbally deconstructing them. The effect is a bit like the director’s commentary on a DVD, in which you hear about the making of a project from the pros themselves. It’s accessible to both the casual listener and the ultrafan.

The idea behind this, Hirway said, was inspired in part by Benjamin Britten’s orchestral pieces designed for children. (If his name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, perhaps the score for “Moonrise Kingdom” will.)

“Benjamin Britten had those pieces for children where there were these records where they would explain what the orchestra did, what all the different sounds were, and what they were capable of,” he explained. “And there was something really nice about that. And it’s not condescending at all, it’s just like — OK, here’s what the trombone does.” By having a musician describe the decisions that led to the use of a certain instrument or lyrics, the finer points of a song take on more meaning.

The experience Hirway had while listening to Marc Maron’s podcast was another influence: “Those [comedians] he has on his show, I felt like I was immediately stepping in to like, an AP level course on something ... It was intermediate or advanced stories. You were expected to kind of catch up a little bit.”

“It felt more real, because they speak to each other like they have this shared vernacular,” he continued. Listening to an artist talk about their work expands our view of their song: it transforms from a whole into a puzzle of finely arranged parts. Instead of the finished product, you consider its influences, the choices made on the way to the finished product.

Hirway’s examination of the music allows for a kind of granular, studied appreciation that feels absent in a world where, thanks to digitization, hordes of albums are always available on demand.

“There’s something very disposable about music now, and maybe music always, but especially now, where you get five seconds of an mp3 of a track, and if it doesn’t catch your ear, you move onto the next one,” he said. “It’s the flipside of the blessing of having all the music on earth at your fingertips: How do you get through all of that?”

The answer, or an answer, seems to be allowing artists to talk about the thing they love. Though Hirway said most interviews are recorded remotely, he was able to sit down in-person with Solange for her episode, where she breaks down “Cranes in the Sky,” off of 2016’s “A Seat at the Table.”

“It was especially cool for me because she made my favorite record of last year,” he said. “But really, the best thing about that was how fantastic she was as an interviewee. She really had a really clear sense of her motivation and she had a very clear memory of how the song was made.”

He recalled his favorite moment from Solange’s episode, where he asked about a certain part in the song when she sings, “I tried to cry it away,” and the backing vocals — also performed by her — respond, “Don’t you cry, baby.”

“She told this story [explaining] how that’s her mom and her two aunties singing to her,” he said. “She had this story about how her mom always gave her and Beyoncé three days. Whatever it was that they were going through, they would get two days to be miserable, and then on the third day, they had to like, wipe the tears away and get back into it. So this little moment, this one line in the song, represented to her this sense of community and family and the idea of picking yourself back up.”

“That was so beautiful, and perfectly encapsulated the kind of story and the kind of feeling that I always want from music and that I especially want from artists on the podcast.”

Download “Song Exploder” from iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017

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What is it like to be queer in India today? A photography exhibition titled “Delhi: Communities of Belonging” by artists Sunil Gupta and Charan Singh offers a glimpse of 17 queer individuals and couples living in present day Delhi, India’s capital territory. 

The photos are intimate and, to an extent, ordinary. In one photo, a woman kisses her cat while typing on her laptop. In another, a reclining dad uses his knees to lift his young son into the air. Yet beneath the familiar exteriors is the centuries of discrimination and taboo that has prevented countless individuals from experiencing the joys of mundane daily life. 

Until 2009, anti-sodomy laws in place since British rule of India forbade people of the same sex from engaging in sexual intercourse. The law was briefly overturned in 2009, until the Supreme Court reversed that ruling in 2013. The intermediary phase of acceptance, however, roused many LGBTQ people to come out and organize ― people who are now left in a precarious sort of limbo.

“Even though people are more out today, there is that thing in the back of the mind saying this is still illegal in this country and tomorrow if they decide to crack down on it, we are too exposed already, so we would be in a lot of trouble,” a subject named Ranjan told Gupta and Sigh.

The two photographers met at an HIV conference in Delhi eight years ago, when they bonded over being members of India’s queer scene. Singh was working in a sector of public health catered toward working-class, queer men, while Gupta had been photographing the LGBTQ Indian community since 1980. In the decades since, Gupta observed substantial shifts in how queer Indians comported themselves and were perceived by others. 

“Today, many are still not out, but it’s hugely different in terms of documentary and photography,” Gupta told VICE.  “In 1980, nobody would turn their face to my camera and people certainly did not want to have their name on the picture, which they do in the book. The project now, which is portraits of real people with their names, with them facing the camera, is completely a reversal from how it was then.”

Through their photos and the conversations accompanying them, Singh and Gupta compile an intimate and animate portrait of contemporary life for queer Indians. What shape each life takes is different, depending on factors including generation, class and educational background. And the photographic subjects reflect a variety of occupations, including activists, sex workers and academics. Together, though, the photographs tell the story of an LGBTQ community whose origin story differs from that of the West, and whose members are still fighting for safety, equality, protection and love. 

Singh and Gupta published a photography book titled Delhi: Communities of Belonging in 2016, combining 150 images with original interviews and written testimonials from the subjects. The book is available on Amazon, while the photographs will be on view in an exhibition of the same name at sepia EYE in New York between March 31 and May 6.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31 on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

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Since President Donald Trump’s election, artists and curators have been showing up and putting in work to prove that the line between art and activism is tenuous at best. An upcoming exhibition called “No Borders” is the most recent example.

The one-day pop-up show features over 100 works by donated artists including Claes Oldenburg, Robert Longo and Victoria Burge, all of which are priced at $200 or less. All proceeds from the day’s sales will go toward the ACLU and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). 

Curator Kirsten Flaherty began organizing the event following the announcement of Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations in February. Along with Trump’s ban, Flaherty also sought to resist the racist rhetoric vocalized by the presidential administration’s supporters around the country, as well as the surge of hate crimes and xenophobic threats sweeping the nation. 

Two months prior, Flaherty coordinated an art fundraiser to benefit the Standing Rock Medic + Healer Council as well as the Civil Liberties Defense Center, in support of those protesting at Standing Rock. In a single day, the show raised over $5,000. 

The “No Borders” exhibition provides a space for the creative community to come together, supporting one another as well as those most targeted by the current administration. “I believe,” Flaherty expressed in a statement, “as do many of the artists involved, that it is the responsibility of artists to use their visual talents in resistance to injustice and these exhibitions strive to raise vital funding while at the same time foster a sense of support among creative individuals in a difficult time.”

“No Borders” takes place Sunday, April 2, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Brooklyn’s Ground Floor Gallery. Art lovers will be hard-pressed to find an easier way to show some love to the organizations fighting to protect the rights of immigrants and refugees in this uncertain time. Also ― paying $200 for a Claes Oldenburg lithograph is just bananas, so you might want to get there early.   

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

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Your childhood fear of clowns has been validated thanks to the just-released trailer for “It,” based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. 

The clip kicks off with a young boy playing with a paper boat in the rain. While chasing it down the street, the boat gets caught up in the stream and winds up in a sewer grate. Of course, the boy looks down into the deep, dark sewer, and there appears ― you guessed it ― Pennywise, the most terrifying clown ever. (Seriously, the new iteration of this character makes Tim Curry’s Pennywise look lovable.)

Judging by the 2-minute clip, you can expect the movie to be full of moments that involve Pennywise appearing out of thin air, effectively scaring the living daylights out of you. If that’s your cup of tea, check out the trailer above. 

“It” hits theaters Sept. 8. 

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

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The early months of spring in New York always bring a rush of new Broadway musicals, and each year we kick off the season with a peek at some of the sexiest dancers, singers and actors that Broadway has to offer.

Here is our seventh annual roundup of 20 talented and men and women who will be heating up stages in the months ahead.

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Animal photographer Andrew Marttila says when he first heard about Japan’s “cat islands,” he knew he had to go.

He’s best known for his portraits of felines and his partner, Hannah Shaw, founded the cat rescue group Kitten Lady, so it made sense for them to plan a trip.

“Cat islands” — places where populations of free-roaming kitties boom in the absence of predators — have drawn growing numbers of international feline-loving tourists for several years. Photos of huge groups of cats ― like these images from an island called Aoshima ― periodically go viral and fueling interest in visiting the region.

Japan has 11 cat islands in all, typically the result of fishermen bringing cats to shore to control rodent populations.

In November, Marttila and Shaw traveled to Ainoshima, an island off the town of Fukuoka that measures a little more than a half a square mile, inhabited by around 500 people and hundreds of outdoor cats. The place is known as “Cat Heaven.”

But what the couple found was a little more complicated.

“For us cat lovers, there’s something pretty special about an area littered with dozens of cats,” Marttila told The Huffington Post in an email. “What you’re not seeing, however, are all the cats and kittens suffering from very treatable illnesses.”

Lack of spaying and neutering, plus an abundance of food provided by tourists, contributes to a growing cat population. But with no veterinarians or real framework for their care, this leads to what Shaw, writing for Paw Culture, called “a constant cycle of birth, early death, and more birth.”

She wrote that while the cats that survived to adulthood seemed healthy, there was a high mortality risk for the younger felines.

“Roughly one-third of the cats were young kittens struggling with untreated upper respiratory infections,” Shaw wrote.

“Eyes and noses crusted, the kittens huddled together on the warm pavement.”

A 2014 Japan Times article gave a similar account, quoting Japanese cat scientist Akihiro Yamane as observing many of the cats die in kittenhood, and adult males suffer brutal injuries over fights for mates and territory on the crowded island. 

Marttila said that people on the island were resistant to the idea of veterinary care and were “more keen to allow nature run its course.”

And while he acknowledges that yes, it’s natural for animals outside to get sick and die, the island is teeming with cats in the first place only because of human activity. As Shaw wrote in her essay, “human intervention is already impacting the growth of the population, just not in a way that benefits anyone.”

Marttila also stressed that he did not mean to criticize Japan in particular, since the United States is rife with its own animal welfare problems. And not all Japanese cat islands are the same. On Tokonoshima Island, for instance, which is home to around 3,000 cats, the government is implementing a “trap-neuter-return” program. This involves humanely trapping the cats, neutering or spaying them and giving them necessary vet care and then returning them to their outdoor homes.

Spaying and neutering cats cuts down on overpopulation and curbs stressful behavior like fighting and mating. On Tokonoshima, officials started the program in part to protect an endangered species of rabbit threatened by the cats.

When it comes to cat islands, Marttila believes potential visitors should be aware of what they may be getting into.

“Just be prepared to see the full gamut of beautiful to utterly depressing,” he said. “Having a more realistic expectation of what occurs on Ainoshima would have better braced me for the experience.”

You can see some of Marttila’s photos from the island below, and view more of his work on his Instagram and website. 

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Mahershala Ali, Amy Poehler and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31 on Facebook Live. 

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