Queer New World: Meet Brooklyn's Severely Mame

March 22, 2014, 8:50 am

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This is the twenty-first installment in an ongoing series that explores drag culture and the nightlife scene in Brooklyn, N.Y. Over the past several years, following the large-scale exodus of artists across the East River and into northern Brooklyn, those engaged in drag culture in this outer borough have created a new, queer world entirely their own. Accompanied by a larger movement to understand drag culture outside of the pageant circuit, many individuals engaged in the drag community in this borough approach drag culture through a nontraditional lens of "alternative" drag or performance art, enabled largely by the malleable and queer nature of this part of New York. Visit HuffPost Gay Voices regularly to learn not only about the individuals involved in Brooklyn's drag community, but more about the culture of the community itself.

The Huffington Post: How did you get your start in the drag world?
Severely Mame: I had no interest in drag before I moved to the city, but I was a character. When I got here I met Horrorchata who introduced me to a bunch of great people and I ended up at a Bushwig planning meeting for the first year. Babes Trust was going through the list of performers and said they needed more and told me I was doing it. I told him I'd never performed before and he told me to get it together because my first show was booked.

How would you characterize the kind of drag that you do?
New York City's Pinup Ghoul, Favorite Dead Girl, Most Wicked Witch. All in all, I'm just a creep.

Describe the drag scene and community in Brooklyn -- how is it different from drag culture elsewhere?
There are so many venues and parties in every neighborhood of Brooklyn -- everyone has the chance to try it out. I feel like people's default answer is that we're different and anything goes here but I really don't believe that is Brooklyn specific -- there's ugly drag queens everywhere. Have you seen the Internet? Things like 'Tumblr's Drag Race' happen and that's full of interesting girls that could fit into this idea of Brooklyn drag and live all over the world. I know I couldn't get away with spitting blood all over my audience everywhere, but I also don't think I can get away with that anywhere but my home away from home Don Pedro (where you can catch my weekly horror show every Wednesday).

How do you think Internet culture and platforms, such as Tumblr, have affected the evolving nature of drag culture?
Our characters and personalities have become accessible everywhere -- we have the ability to have a fan base to encourage and motivate us that isn't only the people coming to our shows! Between my Tumblr and Instagram I have a few thousand strangers keeping up with what I do and helping me build Severely Mame into a person that is known beyond just the city I perform in. Not only does it inspire the performers, but it gives future performers and drag queens a place to learn HOW to do it.



"...things like 'Tumblr's Drag Race' happen and that's full of interesting girls that could fit into this idea of Brooklyn drag and live all over the world?" -- Why do you feel like so many of the artists and performers fitting a certain aesthetic congregate and have built this Queer New World in Brooklyn?
We are a bunch of creative types all pursuing our dreams in New York, and doing that doesn't always leave you with much money to live off of, which has brought us to Brooklyn. Here we try as hard as we can with the little that we have to do it with. It makes us push our creativity to make something out of nothing, which has now created an aesthetic of its own that has almost become a brand at this point. We are all just doing what we want and trying to engage and entertain our audience.

What does it mean to you to be a drag performer? How do you experience or understand this identity?
It means I get to be the glamour ghoul every little dead boy wants to be growing up. I get all the creative freedom I could ever want. It has given me the means of meeting people I consider idols and even now consider them my friends. I'm constantly inspirited and can act on it while wearing the prettiest (or sluttiest, or bloodiest, or most rhinestoned) dress in the room.

How do you go about planning a look?
If I'm doing a show with a theme I come up with something that is Severely Mame brand but is still fitting to the theme. Severely Mame brand usually has a small waist, because I can tight-lace down to 22 inches (on a good day) or is leggy, and when in doubt put on a big hat or have a reveal under your clothes. And when you're REALLY in doubt, have both. I just wear things I love and make me feel like prettiest dead girl the world has ever seen. I have a lot of freedom to do that here in Brooklyn.



Where does your name Severely Mame come from?
My two biggest dragspirations are Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame, and Maila Nurmi as Vampira. After I had no say in being booked for Bushwig my friend and costume maker Holden Bucy and I were trying to figure out what I was going to go as because at that point I was just being called "Holden Daughter" at parties. So from there we used my dragspirations to get Severely Mame, playing off Auntie Mame and seriously wounding a person.

Where can you be found throughout the week?
Every Monday I can be found at Don Pedro in Brooklyn for Macy Rodman's show BathSalts, along with our talk show, Salty Talk, earlier in the night. Wednesdays are a horror show at Don Pedro for my party Scream Queen. We show a horror movie at 10:00 and have a whole vaudeville spookshow at Midnight! You can also catch me booking your hair appointments at Mudhoney Hair Salon every Friday and Saturday!

Any parting words?
Unpleasant dreams.

Missed the previously featured drag performers and installments in this series? Check out the slideshow below.

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Patrick Stewart And Ian McKellen Wear Matching Bowler Hats, Achieve Next Level Preciousness

March 22, 2014, 9:55 am

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Adorable Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have uploaded the latest documentation of their best friendship. Collaborating in an attempt to break the Internet, they wore matching bowler hats and playfully called each other on adjacent "phoneboxes."



The two have just 11 shows left of "Waiting For Godot," which is surprisingly one of the few times they've worked together (despite the fact that we imagine them having been pals for eternity).

“@IanMcKellen: One more week on Broadway, and an auction to boot: https://t.co/GlKa53FboY pic.twitter.com/icUxU314zW” @RealKerriKing It's us!!

— Heidi Voltage (@HeidiVoltage) March 22, 2014

"We became friends on 'X-Men,'" Stewart told Huff Post Entertainment "Ian loves talking about it ... I started our relationship as a fan ... Then we came into the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) together. We didn't know one another well but we were both pursuing the same sort of career, but Bryan Singer cast us in the first X-Men movie and we had adjoining luxury trailers. Of course, it was movie making so we spent more time sitting in our trailers than on the set. We got to know one another and that's when the bond began, which was cemented by 22 weeks of touring in England and being in the West End doing 'Waiting for Godot.' And sharing a dressing room for 22 weeks!"

Watch A Clip From Steven Spielberg's Early Lost Film 'Firelight'

March 22, 2014, 11:14 am

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For some insight into what made Steven Spielberg an Academy Award-winning director with a net worth of $3.4 billion, try out this short clip of a film he made before his budgets were the size of the giant shark that propelled him to fame. From 1964, "Firelight" was made for less than $4,000 and screened at one theater upon its completion. Then the production company went out of business and lost the film reels. The movie has never been seen since, except for this four-minute clip that surfaced online a few years ago and is now making the Internet rounds again.

Thirteen years before "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Firelight" follows a group of Arizona scientists who begin a hunt for aliens after spotting usual colors in the sky and noticing a slew of disappearances. Because you're not likely ever to see this movie, we'll spoil the ending now: According to Lost Media, the "twist ending sees three aliens (represented only by shadows) descending on the Earth, revealing their plans to abduct the entire town of Freeport for the purpose of creating a human zoo, back on their home planet of Altaris." Watch below, and don't panic when the sound cuts out in spots. It's old, ya know?

'True Bromance' Showcases A Surprisingly Romantic Day In The City (VIDEO)

March 23, 2014, 5:16 am

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It's amaaaaazng what a little editing can do.

In this adorable and hilarious video from YouTuber MekkiLeeper, a day in the life of two straight dudes gets set to a slowed-down version of Drake's "Hold On We're Going Home." The result? A romance for the ages that we absolutely love.

Check out the video above!

'Cloth' Video Art Piece By LSE Students Will Make You Question Your Assumptions About The Veil

March 23, 2014, 6:03 am

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A veil is just a piece of cloth, but it often takes on enormous political and social implications that can fail to take the agency of the wearer into account.

"cloth," a video art piece by London School of Economics students in the MSc. Gender, Media and Culture program, seeks to start a conversation about empowerment and oppression by asking the question, "How does freedom dress?"

Directors Ania Catherine and Samira Mahboub told The Huffington Post:

"cloth" is a video art piece intended to start an inter/intracultural conversation about women, identity, restriction, agency, freedom, and (mis)perceptions thereof. There is a current dichotomy—in both academia and popular media—between the “empowered” and “liberated” Western woman, and the “oppressed” veiled woman, as the veil has become “to Western eyes” (Leila Ahmed—Women and Gender in Islam, 1992) a symbol of the oppression of women.

This is both a political and social problem as this dichotomy limits the possibility of a genuine understanding and dialogue about women, between women of different cultural backgrounds (Chandra Mohanty—Under Western Eyes, 1988).

Watch it above.

Gun Used To Shoot Pope John Paul II Will Be Exhibited In Honor Of His Canonization

March 23, 2014, 6:04 am

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The gun used by a would-be assassin to shoot Pope John Paul II will be on display at a museum dedicated to the pontiff as a sign of God's protection of him, according to priests in charge of the museum.

John Paul II, who died in 2005, is to be proclaimed as a saint April 27 at the Vatican and the museum is preparing a new exhibition for the occasion. Monsignor Jacek Pietruszka said Wednesday that many people wonder why trained assassin Mehmet Ali Agca, firing a Browning HP 9mm handgun from close range, injured but did not kill the pope in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

"We believe that the pope was saved to continue his mission," museum's deputy director Pietruszka told The Associated Press.

"The gun is a sign of God's Providence," he said.

The Polish-born pope spent nearly three weeks at a Rome hospital recovering from injuries to his abdomen and from massive loss of blood.

The gun — on three-year lease from Rome's penal authorities — and a replica of the bullet will be among "witnesses" to the happy and sad moments in the late pope's life that will be documented at the multi-media museum in John Paul's childhood home in Wadowice, in southern Poland.

The hospital where he recovered also offered exhibits, Pietruszka said, but refused to specify.

The current, small exhibition at the house where the pope was born in 1920 as Karol Wojtyla, will close this week to give room for the expanded museum that will reopen on April 9.

John Paul pardoned Agca, who was released from prison in 2010.

'Invoking The Goddess' Exhibit Celebrates Pattini-Kannaki, Sri Lanka's Shared Hindu-Buddhist Deity

March 23, 2014, 6:07 am

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Hindus and Buddhists in Sri Lanka may have been divided through political strife over the years, but they have one important thing in common. Her name is Kannaki to Sinhala Buddhists and Pattini to Tamil Hindus, but she is one and the same goddess shared in religious practices by the two faiths.



Poosari (priest) dressed up as (and possessed by) the goddess, Kannaki Amman Kovil, Thandanveli, Batticaloa

Anthropologist Malathi de Alwis and photographer Sharni Jayawardena spent more than two years traveling throughout Sri Lanka and documenting Hindu and Buddhist traditions surrounding Pattini-Kannaki. Their ensuing exhibition, 'Invoking the Goddess', opened in Colombo in February and will be traveling throughout Sri Lanka and India in the coming months.

'Invoking the Goddess' is a stunning portrait of goddess worship in a country that was ravaged by civil war for nearly three decades before fighting officially ended in 2009. Even after war's end, the country has struggled to rebuild where religious and ethnic communities have long been divided.



Poosari (priest) dressed up as (and possessed by) the goddess, Kannaki Amman Kovil, Thandanveli, Batticaloa

Even though the shared tradition has remained in tact amidst the violence, worshippers of Pattini-Kannaki are often unaware of the goddess' dual Hindu-Buddhist observance, as de Alwis and Jayawardena say on the exhibit's website.

"Ironically, a significant number of Sri Lankans are unaware that she is a shared deity – an indication perhaps of the extent of the alienation between the two main ethnic communities in this small island nation...In a context where Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from three decades of civil war, and attempting to stitch together a social fabric tragically bifurcated into triumphant Sinhalese and defeated Tamils, it is timely to reflect on the shared history and traditions of Sinhalese and Tamils, Buddhists and Hindus."

Trance dancers possessed by Goddess Kannaki, Koraveli, Kiran, Eastern Province

Part of what makes Pattini-Kannaki such a powerful divinity, de Alwis told The Huffington Post, is that she is full of contradiction. Pattini-Kannaki is initially a human, legend says, left by her husband for another woman.

When he returns, the two decide to start a new life off the profit from an anklet, which the husband tries to sell at a city market. There he is wrongfully accused and executed for stealing the anklet from the Queen. The widowed Pattini-Kannaki then rises up in her anger, demanding justice from the King and ultimately destroying the city of Madurai in retribution.



Pattini devotee, Panama, Eastern Province. In special festivals to the goddess some devotees pierce their mouths to indicate that they are renouncing speech to focus their thoughts completely on the goddess. Some substitute their bodies with a lime or orange that is then offered to the shrine.

The story takes a turn, though, when Pattini-Kannaki crosses over to the island of Lanka to "cool down." She visits various villages along her path, performing miracles as she goes. A string of temples are built in her wake.



Ritual practitioner carrying the devale anklet in procession, Ruvanwella, Sabaragamuwa Province. (This is one of the largest Pattini-Kannaki anklets in the country.)

A chaste wife and a violent widow, both human and divine, Pattini-Kannaki is not the kind of goddess Sri Lankans would name their daughters after, de Alwis commented, but she is nonetheless highly revered. She is the only female deity on par with male deities in the Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition. And she is a Hindu deity despite being a widow -- a social status de Alwis says is often looked down upon in the Hindu tradition.



Chief Priest incarnated by Goddess Pattini, Western Province.

Most importantly, in her shared worship among Hindus and Buddhists Pattini-Kannaki is an ironic reminder of the parallel cultural traditions that may exist between groups divided along ethnic or political lines. As The Economist wrote:

"In some corners of Sri Lanka, where questions of ethnicity have not cleaved them apart, Sinhalese and Tamils live together, intermarry and share in their devotion to Pattini or Kannaki, by whichever name...The government need not look very far if it wants to find a way towards post-war reconciliation; the path was laid centuries ago."

Lady Gaga's 'G.U.Y.' Video Resurrects Jesus And Michael Jackson

March 23, 2014, 6:52 am

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Lady Gaga debuted the new music video for her song "G.U.Y." on NBC Saturday night, showing the "ARTPOP" star partying it up at the Hearst Mansion in California. While no one is vomiting on Gaga, she does have an arrow through her chest at one point, the cast of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"make a cameo and there is some sort of Jesus and Michael Jackson resurrection.

Watch the video below:

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'I Died In The Mare': Mare Favela Children Speak About Brazil's Slums In Documentary VIDEO)

March 23, 2014, 7:26 am

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Children growing up in Mare favela, one of the most dangerous slums in Brazil's Rio, have seen appalling violence. The cluster of 16 neighborhoods that is home to some 130,000 people is notoriously dangerous, a center of gang gang rivalries and repeated invasions by military and civil police.

"I died in the Mare," a new documentary by Marie Naudascher and Patrick Vanier, follows the children of the Mare favela as they struggle to cope with events that are often too harsh to relay in words.

The scars are internal, invisible," Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, who founded a community project for children affected by the violence, tells the filmmakers. "These scars will be visible a little bit later."


After Brazil won its bid to host the World Cup in 2014, the government initiated a "pacification" program across the favelas to drive out the drug gangs. Agence France Press reports that Mare became a refuge for criminals fleeing surrounding slums targeted under the program. Mare was next on the list, but the program was postponed and police are retreating from the neighborhood, according to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the children of Mare favela struggle to cope with the brutality on their doorsteps. "

Watch the full documentary "I died in the Mare" below, and visit Agencia Pública to learn more.

Chris Trueman's Electric Canvases Will Leave Your Mind Spinning

March 23, 2014, 8:04 am

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Somewhere between a computer screen saver, a journey to find your spirit animal, and a car window streaked with rain, you'll find Chris Trueman's electric abstract canvases.

The enchanting works, made from acrylic and acrylic spray paint, combine various threads of abstraction for a unique experience that combines the historical debates of painting with a fast-paced sharpness perfect for the short attention span of the internet generation. Combining soft and hard strokes with warm and cool colors, Trueman creates multilayered works thick with contradiction and complexity. We reached out to the California painter to learn more about his upcoming exhibition, "Beneath the Skin."


CG


Your artistic style features a visual collision of competing schools of abstraction, from AbEx to Op Art. How would you define your style without reference to these other modes? My artistic style is about constructing something new out of the parts and pieces of systems and modes that at one point were ideologically isolated philosophies. The reason I have currently gravitated to Ab-ex and OP wasn't because of their place in art historical context, but because the experience of them was so opposing. Ab-ex was a sort of transmission, a nonverbal message through the paint itself, and OP was so much more of a reflection about the body of the viewer and how experiencing OP art made you realize that your perceived world wasn't as stable as it seemed. Perception depends on things staying still.

By combining these modes you get a transmission lost in the reflection or a persistent presence in your otherwise pleasurable visual stimulus. I make paintings based on the premise that the sum of two contradicting experiences does not cancel out but creates a whole separate experience unto itself. There are a number of other references in the work such as graffiti, street art, computer graphics, 3D modeling, fashion and also various types of space -- illusionistic space, a flattened "abstract" space, space based on series of overlapping layers that act like a screen or photoshop space, physical and textural space. I'm mining the history of painting and visual culture to take advantage of what these diverse modes and processes can do and what the experience of them is.

Walk us through your process. How do you begin a work and how do you know when it is finished? My process begins on a raw canvas, I start by painting gesturally, with brushes, squeegees, and a variety of tools. The second layer is often a process of masking and spraying with an acrylic based spray paint. In this process I have to start building backwards, because the negative space is what will show through. Sometimes the spray is solid, at other times it allows the previous layer to show through, sometimes the masked layer covers the whole surface, sometimes just parts of the painting.

The interesting thing about using the acrylic spray paint is that it adheres differently to the various surfaces, so the areas with the underlying gesture the spray is more solid, whereas the areas of raw canvas, the paint doesn't adhere as well. This ends up merging the layers, rather than a flat even graphic layer on top of a gestural painting, the graphic layer takes on the shapes and forms of the underlying layers. I then repeat this back and forth, more gestural painting, sometimes staining by watering down the acrylic paint and then back to the masking and spraying. What makes this body of work different than the previous bodies of work is that the gesture comes back to the top, before the final layer was a masked and sprayed layer.

I know it is finished when there is a tension and balance between the forms, even though I work somewhat intuitively in the process, I start out with an idea of what the work will more or less look and act like in the end and I can see when I have accomplished my objectives while maintaining a freshness.

How, if at all, has California contributed to your aesthetic?I think California has been a big influence -- the color, the light, the amazing history we have here have all contributed in some way to my paintings. I also like it when there is a sense of place that comes through in the work. You can see a Berlin aesthetic in work coming from Berlin and it is tied to the ideas that are circulating. The same happens here, there is a youthfulness and a boldness that I see in a lot of LA-based work. I also think that Hollywood and the movie industry can play a role in the work that is made here, a cinematic quality.

What's your biggest distraction from working?I am very fortunate to not have too many distractions from working. My wife is very supportive, we have a 16-month-old daughter Luca that I love to spend my time with and I teach at Fullerton College and Santa Ana College a few days a week, but I wouldn't call either of these a distraction. I love spending time with my family and I get a lot out of teaching, it keeps me sharp, on my toes and thinking about why I make the decisions I make in own artwork.

Nothing makes you think about your process and ideas more than having to explain it to a student. I have a really dedicated studio practice and get into the studio at least five days a week. I have also been traveling quite a bit for art fairs and shows, I think the travel is probably what pulls me out of the studio the most but it is so important to me to see what else is going on out there and I enjoy showing my work actively.



Chris Trueman's "Beneath the Skin" will run until April 26, 2014 at Edward Cella Gallery in Los Angeles.

Russia's Amazingly Glamorous Retired Artists

March 23, 2014, 8:05 am

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By David Rosenberg

Many people find retirement homes to be dull, sterile places. But this is not so in the case the Savina House for Veterans of the Stage in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is home to many retired actors, dancers, and luminaries of the arts.




In 2006, Lucia Ganieva decided to pay a visit to the home while traveling in Russia. Built in the mid-1890s and situated on one of the islands that make up St. Petersburg, the beautiful complex consists of three buildings in a park filled with gardens, fruit trees, ponds, and walking trails, with an interior decorated with antiques. “When I visited and saw the magnificent building and spoke with the people, I immediately got my idea for a photo project,” Ganieva recalled.

That project, “Sunset of Fame” is a series of 24 diptychs that include a portrait of the retired actors, artists, opera singers, and ballet dancers, paired with stills of their rooms decorated with memorabilia from their past.

For Ganieva, who was born in Russia but has lived in the Netherlands since 1993, the project was a chance to learn about the retired artists’ personal histories as well as the history of Russia. “Sometimes I had to sit two or three hours talking with one of them, with a cup of tea and some sweets and looking at the souvenirs of their past,” she said. “It was very pleasant to work there. Many of the retired artists are still living in the past. They even perform now and then on a stage [at the home].”

Ganieva said although many of the artists reacted differently when approached about participating in the project, most of them were pleased to be part of it. The youngest person she met was in her 60s and the oldest was 97. Their rooms at the home are tiny but filled with memories. “I found it important to show in my pictures both aspects of their lives, and that is why I chose to make diptychs,” Ganieva said. “The artists were all well-known in Russia before, but now their career lies far in the past, and they miss being the center of [attention].”

“Sunset of Fame” has been shown in a number of exhibits. In 2008 it was on view at the National Centre of Photography for the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg, and many of the residents were able to visit to see the series. Ganieva said she’s grateful to have made the project. “In in a way, all the memories of these artists have become my own,” she said.

See more photos on Slate.

Jay Electronica Drops 'We Made It' Freestyle Featuring Jay Z

March 23, 2014, 8:57 am

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Jay Electronica has been casually releasing more tracks than we have seen in years, and in the early hours of Sunday morning, March 23, he randomly dropped his freestyle over Soulja Boy's "We Made It," featuring a verse from Jay Z.

Electronica delivers an excellent verse, as always, and Jay Z's is one of the best he has put out in quite some time. Listen to the collaboration below.

'Divergent' Opening Weekend Tops Box Office With $56 Million

March 23, 2014, 10:02 am

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NEW YORK (AP) — The teen science-fiction franchise "Divergent" debuted with $56 million at the box office, one of the year's biggest openings, but one shy of some expectations.

Lionsgate's adaptation of Veronica Roth's best-selling young-adult novels, starring Shailene Woodley, didn't reach the heights of the studio's other teen franchises. "Twilight" opened with $69.6 million in 2008, and "The Hunger Games" debuted with $152.5 million in 2012. But "Divergent" is still the second largest opening of 2014, following "The Lego Movie." A sequel is already planned.

Disney's Muppets sequel "Muppets Most Wanted" fared poorly, earning $16.5 million over the weekend. In 2011, "The Muppets" opened notably better with $29.2 million.

Last weekend's box-office leader, the animated "Mr. Peabody and Sherman," slid to third place in its third week of release with $11.7 million.

Madison Square Garden Buys 50 Percent Stake In Tribeca Enterprises

March 23, 2014, 12:11 pm

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NEW YORK (AP) — A film company co-founded by Robert De Niro called Tribeca Enterprises is selling a 50 percent stake to the Madison Square Garden Company.

The deal was announced Saturday night. It combines two major New York show business players, gives Tribeca Enterprises the marketing power of a growing sports and entertainment company and offers the MSG Co. an entry into the film business. The deal values Tribeca Enterprises at $45 million. The company was co-founded by De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, who will remain CEO.

Among the properties owned by the MSG Co. are Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.

The company is also the presenter of the Tribeca Film Festival. The 13th festival begins April 16.

21 Female Book Characters You've Crushed On... And What They Reveal About You

March 24, 2014, 9:53 am

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As we’ve already established, there are some highly desirable gentleman populating the pages of our favorite books. But women and men who love men aren’t the only people who swoon over charming book characters. What about all the feisty, funny, beautiful, brave, soulful, and clever women from literature who have won the hearts of readers? I figured it was time to suss out which women from fiction have been enrapturing readers most, and what these crushes show us about people's true characters.

Every person I asked for their book crush had a different answer, testifying to the diversity of people’s romantic tastes. Some of us crush on gritty, daring women; others gravitate toward the nerdy and awkward; some, of course, love the graceful and charming. Some readers might find Elizabeth Bennet alluring, while others wax poetic about the sex appeal of Lisbeth Salander -- speaking volumes about what they truly care about in life. I’ve collected a list of 21 wildly different, wildly attractive women from your favorite books that offer an insight into readers’ personalities. And of course, if you think I left out a particularly crush-worthy lady from fiction, please let me know in the comments!

Here are 21 women crushes from literature that might reveal something about who you really are:

Brett Ashley from The Sun Also Rises: You’re a hard partier, and you need a cool girl at your side -- the type of girl who will knock back whisky with your friends and look glamorous in a slinky dress while doing it. You need a lady who will fit into your lifestyle of bar-hopping and brawling, but you’re not willing to compromise on sex appeal; after all, an interest in beautiful women is one of the hyper masculine qualities you plume yourself on.

Anna Karenina from Anna Karenina: You don’t mind a difficult or temperamental woman, as long as she’s ravishingly beautiful and devastatingly charming. You’re a dyed-in-the-wool romantic who wants to dedicate his life to the sort of angel who would be worthy of you. If she wants you to attach yourself to her hip, constantly dance attendance upon her and do nothing but shower her with affection and tokens of your commitment, so be it. In fact, that’s how you’d prefer to spend your time.

Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: You’re tough, edgy, and not much of a romantic. You’d prefer a woman who can be a useful partner in sticky situations. The classic damsel in distress, or any woman who would require protection and careful treatment, would be nothing but a liability in the perilous predicaments into which you tend to get yourself. Plus, you just love tattoos.

Jo March from Little Women: You’re bookish and thoughtful, but you also feel lonely without plenty of company. A companion who comes with a carefree sense of humor -- not to mention a big, loving family -- would make sure you never feel too starved for fun and affection.



Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games series: You love your independence, no doubt about it. Whenever a one-night-stand asks you “if you’ll really call,” you feel nothing but annoyance. What you crave is a woman who understands emotional unavailability as much as you do; she’ll hang out with you when you want, hook up with you from time to time, but never demand that you commit.

Dorothea Brooke from Middlemarch: You’re idealistic, especially about social justice and political reform, and you want to live a life that is centered around helping others. You're passionate about taking practical steps toward improving people's lives. You don’t particularly want money, a luxurious lifestyle, or a trophy wife, and you actually find women who spend their time shopping and applying makeup off-putting, not sexy.

Masami Aomame from 1Q84: You love a woman who knows how to take care of herself, and who’s willing to stand up for others, even if she has to get her hands dirty (literally, legally, and morally) to do it. But while you don’t flinch at a bit of violence, deep down you’re a big old softie. At the end of the day, you want a stunningly beautiful woman who reciprocates your epic love, not just a partner in crime.

Madeleine Hanna from The Marriage Plot: You’re a bookish, clever type -- but more than that, you’re someone who sees himself as a bookish, clever type. Your image is almost as important to you as your intellectual interests, and you crave a girlfriend who embodies the classy, literary lifestyle you aspire to (but who will spend more time contemplating her relationship with you than she will actually being, y’know, literary).



Daenerys Targaryen from A Song of Ice and Fire series: Let’s be honest, you’re a little bit evil. You have some sort of moral code, but you have no qualms about watching your enemies suffer. You need a partner in ruthlessness, not someone who will wring her hands over your dirty deeds.

Arwen from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Nothing against you, but you really don’t have much time or energy for dating right now. You’re pretty focused on yourself and your important mission (whether it’s to beat the final level of your favorite video game, get your startup off the ground, or win a major promotion), and you’re only interested in a woman if she’ll be beautiful, patient, and supportive while you remain immersed in your own projects.

Clarisse McClellan from Fahrenheit 451: In a world of Twitter addicts and reality TV bingers, you feel like no one really knows how to live life anymore. You would rather go for a nature hike than go to the movies, and you’d rather spend a date having a deep philosophical discussion than flirting superficially over cocktails. If only you could meet someone who was as disillusioned about modern society as you are, you might be able to feel happy.



Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice: You’re a refined, classy sort of dude or lady. Plus, you have a healthy respect for your traditionally feminine side -- after all, you’ve read a whole book by Jane Austen, despite the chick lit stigma she’s acquired in recent decades! Your idea of a good time is exchanging witty banter with an intriguing companion, not knocking back shots at a sports bar.

Franny Glass from Franny and Zooey: You’re drawn to people who are brilliant but complicated and even fragile. You think the best things in life are things that need to be worked for, and that relationships worth having are wracked with suffering and soul-searching. You see life as a very serious thing, not to be frittered away on trivial pleasures, and you want to be around other people who are dedicated to contemplating the meaning of life with you.

Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing: You take pride in your sarcastic sense of humor, and you can’t deal with people who don’t know how to take a joke. Any woman you dated would need to be able to take your zingers with aplomb -- and be able to throw some right back at you. You’re not much for emotional vulnerability, but your love for laughter sustains your relationships.

Ifemelu from Americanah: You’re educated, liberal, and your passion for social justice mainly manifests itself in a desire to talk a lot about what’s wrong with the world. You’re almost neurotically self-reflective and keenly perceptive, and you’re fascinated by figuring out your own identity and how it fits into the world around you, even though it sometimes leaves you feeling isolated and depressed. You relate best to other people who tend to feel like outsiders, and you love conversation that ranges from deep and philosophical to light and witty.



Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series: You’re a modern man or lady, and you know there’s no shame in letting your woman overshadow you. Realizing your girlfriend is way smarter than you would give you a thrill of pride rather than a sting of humiliation. After all, you’re so into intelligence that the kind of girl you’d like to date would be way smarter than not only you, but pretty much everyone else around her. Besides, you’re confident enough in what you have to offer such a bright girl that you feel fine about letting her take the lead on things like doing taxes, fixing the computer, and other nerdy tasks.

Madame Arnoux from Sentimental Education: You like to think you’re all grown up, but on some level, you’re still just a big kid. You want to be taken care of and nurtured, and you idealize women who seem pure and motherly rather than sexual.

Éowyn from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: You are a self-proclaimed feminist, and you chafe at the idea of a woman being prevented from following her heart just because of her gender. However, you’re also a bit uncomfortable with a woman being just as ruthless and aggressive as men can be. It’s hard for you to always treat women as true equals, but at least you’re trying.



Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby: For you, a woman is more of a symbol than a person. You have a hard time dealing with the realities of a relationship, but you’re never without a hopeless crush on a girl who’s completely out of your league. You’re a little socially awkward, very idealistic, and you don’t know how to handle girls you can’t put on a pedestal. But because you barely see women as real people, you'd rather have a complex about rescuing them from their bad relationships than realize that they made the choice to be where they are.

Catherine Barkley from A Farewell to Arms: It’s hard for you to resist a martyr. You have a great value and admiration for people who are loving and self-sacrificing. You believe that people should be willing to endure suffering in life, whether it’s for the person they love or whether it’s for people who need help. More than anything, you’re repulsed by selfishness.

Meg Murray from A Wrinkle in Time: You’re a bit of an outsider, and you want to find someone who understands just how that feels. Being outsiders together seems way more appealing than trying to fit into the image-conscious, vapid world of the popular kids. You’re also super nerdy and love working on unsolved equations or tricky coding problems in your free time. What? It's totally fun!

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'Teeth Dreams' Review: The Hold Steady's New Album Is Classic

March 24, 2014, 10:16 am

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The Hold Steady, "Teeth Dreams" (Razor & Tie)

The Hold Steady is a garage band at heart, but it's a two-car garage in a nice neighborhood, and there might be a Mercedes inside. Singer Craig Finn and his mates have always come across like upper-middle-class products who are usually the oldest, smartest guys at the party — and thus the ones who tell the most interesting stories. "'Teeth Dreams," the Brooklyn band's sixth album, is filled with Finn's characteristically compelling characters, mostly female, as he sings about bad company, simple minds, night moves, life in the fast lane, dancing the night away and Pink Floyd. Rock doesn't come much more classic.

To help keep the '70s alive, the Hold Steady doubles down on the guitars, and recent addition Steve Selvidge teams with band co-founder Tad Kubler to frame the songs with dense, shimmering sound. It's often pretty, and it always packs plenty of punch. Horns? Strings? There's no need when you're a garage band.

Latest 'Penny Dreadful' Trailer Shows Classical Literature's Terrifying Side

March 24, 2014, 10:52 am

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Horror fans looking for a fright need to check out the latest trailer for "Penny Dreadful." The Showtime series has its roots in classic thriller literature and features long-time loved/feared monsters such as Dracula, Dorian Gray and Frankenstein (and his monster).

Fittingly, the show's latest trailer is a narration of passages from Bram Stoker's "Dracula," accompanied by a gruesome visual in which the book's pages, which seem to be made of human skin, are stitched together.

This all seems pretty horrifying, but the cast of "Penny Dreadful" is anything but. The series stars such well known actors as Josh Hartnett (Ethan Chandler), Eva Green (Vanessa Ives) and Billie Piper (Brona Croft), among others. Whether you're a fan of "American Horror Story" or just looking for a good scare, you'll want to stay tuned.

"Penny Dreadful" premieres May 11 on Showtime.

Pharrell Williams Mixed With Goldfrapp Makes 'Happy' An Intense Auditory Experience

March 24, 2014, 10:58 am

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When Pharrell Williams' smash pop hit "Happy" is blended with Goldfrapp's "Let It Take You," the resulting song is a lot less jovial, and more, well ... somber, introspective and sort of super intense. And we kind of dig it!

At least that's our take on this blended cover above submitted to us by mashcover. Take a listen to judge for yourself if the mood change is one you like too.

Japanese Pianist Yoshiki Battles Holographic Version Of Himself

March 24, 2014, 11:27 am

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Japanese pianist Yoshiki Hayashi is well known for his flair onstage.

The co-founder of the wildly popular group X Japan often dons elaborate, David Bowie-level ensembles while dramatically pounding piano keys -- and sometimes drum sets -- amidst dizzying electric light displays. His ability to blur the line between classical music and hair metal never disappoints, so when we heard the raucous musician was going to battle a holographic version of himself, we were hardly surprised.

The strange battle of epic proportions took place during this year's South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, in which a flesh-and-bones Yoshiki took the stage with his virtual counterpart to duet. In the video posted above, you can watch as Yoshiki's holographic body appears onstage (to the tune of an angelic choir) shortly before Yoshiki himself steps out to a cheering audience and performs "Art of Life."

You don't have to be a Yoshiki fan to appreciate the sheer genius of this classical music stunt. But in case this is the first time you're hearing of the record-breaking artist, you should know he's sold over 30 million albums and singles, conducted the Super World Orchestra at the World Expo, inspired a Stan Lee superhero and sparked a Hello Kitty product line called "Yoshikitty." In other words, he's kind of a big deal.

h/t The Creator's Project

Adam McKay Directing 'The Big Short' Film Adaptation

March 24, 2014, 11:38 am

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NEW YORK (AP) — In a shift to drama, Adam McKay will write and direct an adaptation of Michael Lewis' financial crisis best-seller "The Big Short: The Doomsday Machine."

Paramount Pictures announced Monday it will produce "The Big Short" along with Plan B, Brad Pitt's production company. McKay is best known as the director of comedies, including the two "Anchorman" films, "Talladega Nights" and "Step Brothers." He regularly collaborates with Will Ferrell, who has starred in all his films, including the white-collar crime comedy "The Other Guys."

But "The Big Short" will mark a pivot for the former "Saturday Night Live" head writer. In a statement, McKay said he and Plan B connected over the "breathless quality" of Lewis' 2010 book about the housing market bubble.

Plan B also produced Lewis' baseball tale, "Moneyball."