Evan Peters plays Quicksilver in "X-Men: Days of Future Past," and while there have been glimpses of his character in the film's marketing campaign, the best look yet at the new mutant has arrived via Hardee's. Peters' Quicksilver is front and center in a new commercial for the fast-food chain's X-tra Bacon, Egg & Cheese sandwich. (There's another ad featuring Colossus, played Daniel Cudmore, eating the X-tra Bacon Thickburger.)

"Our visual introduction to Quicksilver in motion comes in the form of 30 seconds of him eating an X-tra Bacon, Egg & Cheese biscuit," wrote HitFix reporter Drew McWeeny in a post about the Quicksilver commercial. "If they were hoping to make him seem interesting or intimidating or cool, this is pretty much the opposite of the way they should have handled things."

Indeed, but such is the game, as actor-writer-director Seth Rogen pointed out in a Twitter conversation with McWeeny after the HitFix story went up:

@DrewAtHitFix @HitFix probably about 20 million dollars in marketing is why.

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) April 7, 2014

@DrewAtHitFix @HitFix yeah. But as a filmmaker, there's certainly upsides to your movie getting an additional 20 million in marketing.

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) April 7, 2014

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" is out in theaters on May 23. For more on the new Hardee's campaign, head to HitFix.

In 2007, London-based photographer Ben Hopper started "Natural Beauty," a photo series designed to challenge what he described as the societal "brainwashing" done by the beauty industry.

Now, nearly seven years later, Hopper released his first official set of these photographs to The Huffington Post. Using an eclectic group of models, actresses, designers and friends, Hopper's pictures highlight a woman's beauty, her armpit hair, and the timely reminder that those two things are in no way mutually exclusive.

The images play on the fact that armpit and body hair have been stigmatized both here in the United States and abroad. Rarely, if ever, do you see a woman in the public eye who isn't conscious of removing much of her body hair.

"As I matured as a person and an artist, I realized I liked [armpit hair]," Hopper told The Huffington Post. "I think it can be a beautiful look."


Alessandra Kurr. Designer.

Olivia Murphy. Fashion student, model.


Ayan Mohamed. Graduate architecture student.

After finding willing models, Hopper realized that even his subjects weren't immune to body-hair anxiety. He told The Huffington Post that one model who was growing out her armpit hair for the project got so "grossed-out" while doing so that she chose not to go through with the shoot.

"The whole point [of the series] is contrast between fashionable female beauty and the raw unconventional look of female armpit hair," Hopper told HuffPost. "I expect [the photos] will surprise a lot of people and I guess, in a way, that is one of my intentions."

Ruby Bird. Producer, costumier.

Rakel Lindgren. Actress, model.


Hopper's photo of Swedish actress Emilie Bostdt, who grew out her body hair for the series (see below), was the first of the pictures to capture a large audience's attention when he posted it on social media in February. After the picture went viral on his Facebook page, Hopper decided the black background would be the format for his entire series.

Emilia Bostdt. Actress.


Slant Array. Model.



Cassia Tsura. Performer.


While Hopper's series intentionally challenges the beauty status quo, he's not trying to make a grand statement about what any individual woman should or should not do with her body hair.

"I don't want to say that I want women to start growing their armpit hair," Hopper told The Huffington Post. "I just think that it's a possibility and people shouldn't dismiss it. I'd like people to just question [beauty standards], the whole thing."

Hey, remember the '90s? Of course, you do! But, as it turns out, you don't remember all of it because you were probably on speed the whole time... at least if you were a child actor in a Nickelodeon show, you were. This deleted sketch from the Anna Kendrick episode of "Saturday Night Live" proves it.

This one builds slowly but stick with it... it gets totally bonkers in the best way by the end.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten world-class soloists put costly Stradivarius violins and new, cheaper ones to a blind scientific test. The results may seem off-key to musicians and collectors, but the new instruments won handily.

When the lights were dimmed and the musicians donned dark glasses, the soloists' top choice out of a dozen old and new violins tested was by far a new one. So was the second choice, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Of the six old violins tested, five were by made by the famous Stradivari family in the 17th and 18th centuries. The newer violins were about 100 times cheaper, said study co-author Joseph Curtin, a Michigan violin maker. But the Strads and other older Italian violins have long been considered superior, even almost magical.

The idea was to unlock "the secrets of Stradivari," the study said.

So the study tries to quantify something that is inherently subjective and personal, the quality of an instrument, said Curtin and lead author Claudia Fritz of Pierre and Marie Curie University in France. A few years earlier, the duo tested violins blind in an Indianapolis hotel room, but this one was more controlled and comprehensive, putting the instruments through their paces in a rehearsal room and concert hall just outside Paris. They even played with an orchestra, the results of which will be part of a future study.

"I was surprised that my top choice was new," said American violinist Giora Schmidt. "Studying music and violin in particular, it's almost ingrained in you thinking that the most successful violinists on the concert stage have always played old Italian instruments."

French soloist Solenne Paidassi said "there's a paranoia about new instruments," compared to "a glamour about old instruments."

Even Curtin who makes new violins for a living, said he was surprised, adding the study was designed to eliminate bias in favor of either group of violins.

"I remember trying the old violins and the new violins among ourselves just before the testing got going and saying, 'You know maybe the old ones will win'," Curtin said.

But when the lights were turned down, all that could be judged was the sound. Some violins were 300 years old. Some were days old.

And when the soloists were asked to guess whether the violins they were playing were old or new, the soloists got it wrong 33 times and right 31 times.

Canadian soloist Susanne Hou has been playing a rare $6 million 269-year-old Guarneri del Gesu violin and knows what she likes and what she doesn't. During the testing, some of the violins she played for only a few and then held the instrument out at arm's length in noticeable distaste. But, like others, she was drawn to a certain unidentified violin. It was new.

"Whatever this is I would like to buy it," she said in video shot during the September 2012 experiment.

Schmidt, who normally plays a new violin with a little more down-to-Earth price tag of $30,000, liked a different new one, calling it extraordinary in a phone interview: "I said kiddingly to them I will write you a check for this fiddle right now."

Curtin said the researchers won't ever reveal which instruments were used to prevent conflict of interests or appear like a marketing campaign.

James Woodhouse, a professor of engineering and expert on musical instruments at the University of Cambridge in England, wasn't part of the study, but praised it as solid "and very tricky to carry out."

Classic violins "are still very good, but that when a level playing field is provided for making honest comparisons, the very best of the contemporary instruments stand up remarkably well in their company," Woodhouse wrote in an email.

Hou, whose four-year loan of the classic Italian violin has expired, explained in an interview that finding the right instrument is so personal: "There are certain things you can't explain when you fall in love."

And since Hou is shopping for violins this week, one of the restrictions on the experiment truly bothers her: The scientists wouldn't tell her who made the violin she fell for.

___

Online:

Journal: http://www.pnas.org

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Miami pastor knowingly peddled phony examples of some of British art star Damien Hirst's signature themes, prosecutors said in summing up his trial Monday, but the defense claims he was just an art-market novice who couldn't read red flags about the pieces' authenticity.

Jury deliberations were due to resume Tuesday in Kevin Sutherland's attempted grand larceny trial. The case is one in a series of prosecutions surrounding counterfeit works by Hirst, a winner of his country's best-known art award, the Turner Prize. Sutherland, 46, leads the nondenominational, 200-members Mosaic Miami Church. According to his lawyer, he began dealing in cowboy-related art in 2010 and soon began buying Hirsts, or what appeared to be Hirsts.

Part of a group dubbed the Young British Artists in the 1990s, Hirst is known partly for dotted, pharmaceutical-themed "spot" paintings and circular, sometimes kaleidoscopic "spin" paintings.

Sutherland tried last year to sell two counterfeit spin paintings and three bogus spot prints for $185,000 to a seeming buyer — actually an undercover officer — though Sotheby's auction house had told the pastor the authenticity of one of the paintings was in question, the Manhattan district attorney's office says. When the undercover officer asked about potential problems with the artworks, Sutherland said he wasn't aware of any issues, authorities said.

"He had choices he could have made that would have brought him to a very, very different place," Assistant District Attorney Rachel Hochhauser said in a closing argument Monday.

But Sutherland said Sotheby's never clearly told him the artworks were fake. He said he didn't ask Hirst's studio for clarification, as Sotheby's suggested, because the authentication process was pricey and because he believed he had an authenticity guarantee from the man who'd sold him the works — an admitted art scammer who testified against him.

"Kevin Sutherland believed the art to be real," his lawyer, Sanford "Sam" Talkin, said in his summation.

The case against Sutherland grew from a Manhattan DA's office investigation that also ensnared three other men. The Laguna Beach, Calif., gallery owner accused of selling Sutherland the fakes, Vincent Lopreto — who had already served prison time in another phony-Hirst case — and business partner Ronald Bell pleaded guilty to charges including identity theft. They're awaiting sentencing.

Richard Silver, a part-time art dealer who said he unwittingly bought phony Hirst prints from Lopreto but then doctored appraisals to resell them, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor forgery charges, in exchange for a 60-day jail sentence.

___

Reach Jennifer Peltz on Twitter @ jennpeltz.

Nicki Minaj has released an aggressive single off her upcoming album. The song, "Chi-Raq" (feat. Lil Herb), marks the first bit of promotion for "The Pink Print," a projected followup to "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded."

This new song is decidedly more gritty than some of the mainstream dance-pop more recently associated with the rapper. She churns out hard-hitting wordplay over a beat by Boi-1da, Vinylz and Allen Ritter, making sure to address the controversy attached to the cover art of her "Lookin' Ass" single: "Malcom X daughter came at me / Lookin' ass n----s ain't happy."

Whatever your thoughts on "Chi-Raq," there'll be more of this re-upped return to form. “I always got a trick up my sleeve,” Minaj teases in the final verse of the song. “I might give you a new trick every week until this album drop / I don’t know, I figured they wanted some more.”

#FindingMomo is an Instagram (and Facebook, and Twitter, and Tumblr) meme created by adorable Border Collie, Momo and his human, Andrew Knapp.

Knapp gained Internet fame by creating a game that is "either... hide-and-seek with an element of photography or... quasi-nice photography with an element of finding a dog." The premise is simple: Momo "hides" somewhere and Knapp snaps a beautiful picture. Then, Knapp challenges followers to pinpoint the playful Border Collie as quickly as possible.

Watch the Pet Collective's newest video in their web series, "Meme'd" to learn more about Momo and Knapp. (And keep an eye for two of your friendly neighborhood HuffPost Comedy editors sharing their "expert" insights.)

Will you #FindMomo?

"Broadway Bares 24" is shaping up to be bigger, better and sexier than ever, and the show's sinewy stars are offering fans a sneak peek at the June 22 event with this slick new video.

Producers are set to announce the theme of this year's event, to be held at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, on Friday, April 11, with proceeds benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Previous themes have included the risqué roadtrip "United Strips of America" and "Happy Endings," which put a fairy tale twist on the proceedings.

The 2014 lineup for the seventh annual Outside Lands Festival has been announced, revealing headliners Kanye West, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Killers and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. The world's only gourmet festival takes place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park from Aug. 8 through Aug. 10, with a significant portion of the tickets sold benefitting the city's Recreation and Parks Department.

Besides a slew of artist performances, the festival also offers more than 200 spectacular food and drink experiences from Taste of the Bay Area, Wine Lands, Beer Lands, Choco Lands and Cheese Lands.



Outside Lands Festival artists confirmed so far:

Kanye West
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
The Killers
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Arctic Monkeys
Tiësto
Death Cab For Cutie
Disclosure
The Flaming Lips
Ray LaMontagne
Spoon
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Atmosphere
Cut Copy
Tegan & Sara
Duck Sauce
Haim
Chromeo
Ben Howard
Lykke Li
Chvrches
Paolo Nutini
Capital Cities
Kacey Musgraves
Local Natives
Jenny Lewis
Grouplove
John Butler Trio
Tycho
The Kooks
SBTRKT
Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers
Boys Noize
Phosphorescent
Run the Jewels (El-P & Killer Mike)
Deer Tick
Holy Ghost!
Warpaint
Flume
Lucius
Typhoon
Dum Dum Girls
The Soul Rebels
Gold Panda
Christopher Owens
Bleachers
Big Freedia
Jagwar Ma
Greensky Bluegrass
Imelda May
Watsky
Nahko and Medicine for the People
Valerie June
Mikal Cronin
Woods
Vance Joy
The Brothers Comatose
Gardens & Villa
Jonathan Wilson
Tumbleweed Wanderers
Givers
Aer
Courtney Barnett
Bear Hands
Finish Ticket
The Districts
RayLand Baxter
Night Terrors of 1927
Trails and Ways
Nocona

More artists will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 10, at 10 a.m. PDT, and can be purchased here.

Sometimes, it's amazing what "Billy On The Street" can get celebrities to do.

This week, Billy Eichner convinced Paul Rudd to run around New York City (as Billy often does) and ask random strangers if they'd have sex with -- you guessed it -- Paul Rudd.

It's probably the best round of "For A Dollar" we've seen yet. Watch all of the priceless and awkward reactions in the clip above.

Hey, remember when Eddie Murphy decided to try making music instead of comedy? Well, at least "Party All the Time" wasn't totally off-key.

Watch comedian Kevin Hart show why he hasn't parlayed his stand-up success into an R&B career in the CollegeHumor sketch above.

After listening to a recording session for his album, "Hart Beats," you'll probably agree that the closest Kevin's ever getting to a record deal will be starring in a movie with Ice Cube.

Although, he does do a pretty mean Beyoncé.

Tyler Doi isn't your average 8-year-old -- he has a special gift for sound.

Growing up, Tyler, who has autism, was passionate about stars and bird feeders, his dad says in the video above. A few years ago, he was driving with his grandparents looking for bird feeders but was having trouble finding them. That's when they spotted a wind chime, and the rest is history.

The Doi family, from Toronto, reached out to Woodstock Chimes and drove eight hours to their headquarters in Shokan, N.Y., according to the Nexus blog.

While he was there, he impressed everyone by being able to identify the product exclusively by the sound.

To show off Tyler's gift, he played a game called "Name-That-Chime Challenge" against Garry Kvistad, Grammy award-winning musician and founder of Woodstock Chimes. And boy did Tyler blow everyone away -- he got every single chime correct.

"He knows more about my company than anyone does," Kvistad said in the video.

To honor Tyler and to support others living with autism, the company decided to create "Woodstock Chimes for Autism," and to donate 100 percent of the net profits from the sales of those chimes to research and treatment. The chimes feature colorful puzzle pieces to symbolize the many unanswered questions about autism.

"It's really something for me that my son's legacy will somehow live on because of that chime," Tyler's dad said in the video above.

h/t GodVine

Wiz Khalifa and Jimmy Kimmel may have made history last night.

Even though Khalifa claimed he's taken part in a sign language rap battle before, this night was still unique. As Khalifa spit some raps, three sign language interpreters take turns firing off his words in ASL.

The entire event made for some pretty crazy dance moves and what must be the most unique rap battle anyone has seen in a while.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

SAN FRANCISCO — When does a dirty dumpster start to look like a waterfront condo? When you're living in San Francisco, the country's most expensive real-estate market.

A photographer no longer able to afford living in the city recently took pictures of things like dumpsters, mail boxes and manhole covers after putting "for rent" signs on them. He then paired them with tongue-in-cheek apartment listings showing the absurdity of surging prices in a series he calls "SF: For Rent."

Scroll down for photos.

Priced out of the city and now living across the Bay in Alameda, photographer Scot Hampton told HuffPost he got the idea after seeing Craigslist ads offering living-room couches or backyard tents as alternatives to bedrooms.

"I wanted to make a statement about it. It's humorous and depressing," said Hampton, who once considered renting a closet as a bedroom in San Francisco. "Those prices I put on there were almost too close to reality."

For one image, which he listed on Craigslist, Hampton photographed a graffiti-covered dumpster in a public plaza in a rundown section of the city undergoing redevelopment. His mock advertisement prices it at $5,000, and offers the following selling points: "Waterfront condo in the highly desirable, up-and-coming mid-Market area. Luxurious living at its finest! Enjoy the sounds and smells of the UN Plaza fountain as you relax in your condo after a hard day of complaining about the homeless...33 SQ. FT. Utilities not included, nor available."

At the start of the year, the average rental price per bedroom was $3,250 in the well-heeled Pacific Heights neighborhood, according to data from real-estate site Trulia. In the seedy Tenderloin district, one bedrooms averaged $1,898.

Affordable housing advocate Peter Cohen says Hampton's photos would be funny if there weren't such a critical urban problem behind them.

"You just have to take it as a lighthearted moment of humor in an environment that's very serious for folks," said Cohen, who is co-director of the San Francisco Council of Community Housing Organizations. "It's smart, it's cute and it's attention grabbing."



Check out Scot Hampton's "SF: For Rent" listings:



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Coachella's 15th festival is just around the corner. As the desert blowout gets bigger and bigger each year, this happens to be one of our absolute favorite lineups. Amid all the big-name excitement, some of the lesser known bands get glossed over. So, we have scoured the list and came up with a handy guide to finding your next favorite artist (and scoring some points with friends back home who are missing out). Let us know who you're most excited to see this weekend in the comments below.

While we are psyched to see Outkast, Arcade Fire and Pharrell this year -- these 16 smaller acts are sure to blow your mind at Coachella 2014:

1. If you like Stevie Wonder, you'll love Aloe Blacc


(Getty Images/Aloe Blacc Facebook)

Aloe Blacc is best known for his smash hit "Wake Me Up," but this 21st century Motown crooner from Orange County has combined all the best elements of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and Bill Withers. Check out his songs "I Need A Dollar" and "The Man" and get ready to bob that head.

2. If you like 2 Chainz, you'll love A$AP Ferg


(Getty Images/A$AP Ferg Facebook)

With Outkast reuniting as a headliner at Coachella this year, we are happy to see more rap and hip hop artists on the lineup than usual. A$AP Ferg (aka Darold Ferguson, Jr.) is a 25-year-old Harlem rapper who started off a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob. In October, he was named "Rookie of the Year" at the BET Hip Hop Awards and some say Ferg is a voice of the next generation of hip hop. His clever, raw lyrics and hard-hitting beats are reminiscent of 2 Chainz.

3. If you like Nirvana, you'll love Anthony Green


(Getty Images/Anthony Green Facebook)

Anthony Green is the front man of the progressive rock act Circa Survive, and at the 2010 SXSW they won Spin Magazine’s best cover for his version of Nirvana’s “Milk It.” While Green’s vocals have a much higher range compared to Kurt Cobain’s iconic deep raspy voice, Green’s solo project still pays tribute to the grunge god.

4. If you like Garbage, you'll love Dum Dum Girls


(Garbage Facebook/Dum Dum Girls Facebook)

New York City's Dum Dum Girls began as recording project in the bedroom of the lead singer Dee Dee Penny. The all girl band is bringing back the '90s femme alternative rock. Their sound combines the best elements of musicians like Fiona Apple, Hole and PJ Harvey.

5. If you like Fleetwood Mac, you'll love The Preatures


(Getty Images/The Preatures Facebook)

The Preatures' breezy, Lauren Canyon sound -- as evidenced by their infectious 2013 single "Is This How You Feel?" -- seems tailor-made to shine in the sun at a festival like Coachella. We can't help but get that life-affirming Stevie, Lindsay and co. vibe from this awesome Australia export.

6. If you like Prince, you'll love Blood Orange


(Getty Images/Blood Orange Facebook)

How long have we been waiting for a new version of Prince? British multi-threat Dev Hynes has written for artists like Florence and the Machine and The Chemical Brothers, but his newest musical project, Blood Orange, is more focused on electronica ... and all we have to say is: thank you.

7. If you like The Flaming Lips, you'll love Washed Out


(The Flaming Lips Facebook/Washed Out Facebook)

Washed Out’s single “Feel It All Around” is featured in the opening sequence of the sketch comedy "Portlandia." The dream pop band’s breathy vocals set to synth sounds and distorted guitars will lull you into a trance much like music from Air, My Bloody Valentine or Sigur Rós.

8. If you like Coldplay, you'll love Bombay Bicycle Club


(Coldplay Facebook/Bombay Bicycle Club Facebook)

If Coldplay and Pompeii’s music could have sex, Bombay Bicycle Club would be their love baby. Bombay Bicycle Club’s 2011 single “Shuffle” highlights this, Jack Steadman’s vocals sound like a young Chris Martin backed up by indie pop instrumentals. The English band actually doesn't like their name, which comes from a now defunct chain of Indian restaurants.

9. If you like Ed Sheeran, you'll love City and Colour


(Getty Images)

Heartfelt acoustic indie-folk songs are City and Colour’s specialty, even though frontman Dallas Green's first band was the hardcore screamo act Alexisonfire. Fans of Ed Sheeran's single, “The A Team” will adore Dallas Green's sad ballad about love and sacrifice, “The Girl.”

10. If you like John Mayer, you'll love James Vincent McMorrow


(John Mayer Facebook/James Vincent McMorrow Facebook)

With soulful, heartbreaking layers in his voice, 31-year-old Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow has a quality that reminds us of some of our favorite other singer-songwriters like John Mayer and Ed Sheeran. Check out the song "We Don't Eat" to see what we mean. He debuted his first album in 2010 and, my, do we love what we have seen since then.

11. If you like Daft Punk, you'll love Classixx


(Getty Images/Classixx Facebook)

As electronic music gets more mainstream every year, we can't help but fall in love with Classixx's legit sound in a sea of so many imitators. Get ready to dance in the desert to the beats of LA-based DJ duo Tyler Blake and Michael David, who are childhood friends and went to middle school and high school together. The pair has said to be influenced by music ranging from old school R&B to Paul Simon. (If you're looking for another Daft Punk-y act or something similar to M83, be sure to also check out Flume on Friday.)

12. If you like Phoenix, you'll love The 1975


(Getty Images/The 1975 Facebook)

The 1975 is hands-down one of our favorite new bands and we can't wait to see what kind of a party they will throw at Coachella. The English indie rock band from Manchester has mastered the ethereal and synth pop sound but we also must add, these fellows are smooth operators. Check out songs "Sex" and "Chocolate" (two of our favorite things) to hear the Phoenix connection.

13. If you like Amy Winehouse, you'll love John Newman


(Getty Images/John Newman Facebook)


John Newman's contagious and raw 2013 hit "Love Me Again" gets stuck in your brain like peanut butter on the tongue, but some of his other tracks like "Cheating" and "Gold Dust" really solidify this English artist's immense talent. He was one of the most successful and praised British singers in 2013. Part-Amy Winehouse, part-Bruno Mars, Newman's soul and R&B sound is honestly the real deal.

14. If you like Sublime, you'll love Fishbone


(Getty Images/Fishbone Facebook)

Fishbone is one of the original '80s ska bands from Los Angeles and were one of Sublime’s biggest influences. Much like Sublime, Fishbone combines comedy with social commentary and brass instruments for a truly ska experience. Fishbone even covered Sublime's classic song "Date Rape" on the tribute album "Look at All the Love We Found.”

15. If you like Rihanna, you'll love Jhene Aiko


(Rihanna Facebook/Jhene Aiko Facebook)

LA singer Jhene Aiko's soulful, velvety voice wears its '90s R&B inspiration on its sleeve and is beyond ready for prime time. Fans of Rihanna -- or Cassie -- will eat this one up. In response to feeling the pressure to appease record labels, Aiko said: "I’m not a slave to anyone; I’m sailing my soul instead of selling it." Amen.

16. If you like Kanye West, you'll love Chance the Rapper


(Getty Images/Chance the Rapper Facebook)

Grown from the same streets of Chicago as Kanye West, 20-year-old Chance the Rapper strays from mainstream hip hop trends and likes to be a bit more experimental with his music. Chance brings a new inventive look to the rap game and his clear and deliberate delivery reminds us of a young Kanye, circa 2004.

When it comes to music festivals and reunions, this year's headlines have belonged to Kanye West's return to Bonnaroo and, of course, OutKast's massive summer circuit. The legendary ATLien duo's first performance is just days away, taking the stage at Coachella on Friday, April 11.

In years past, Coachella has been the campground for many reunions of epic proportions -- Iggy and the Stooges performed in 2003 after calling it quits in 1974; Rage Against woke from their seven-year slumber in 2007; The Pixies set aside tensions that tore them apart in 1993, returning to full form in 2004 -- and in honor of the festival's latest revival, here is a playlist of the 18 best Coachella reunions ever, courtesy of our friends at Myspace:

This is a string quartet like you've never seen.

Dedicated to "redefining the conventional chamber music concert," the Salut Salon quartet combines a unique energy and swagger to create a performance that has dance, theatre and -- of course -- music.

Composed of Angelika Bachmann (violin), Iris Siegfried (violin and vocals), Anne-Monika von Twardowski (piano) and Sonja Lena Schmid (cello), the quartet mixes in certain kinds of tricks to their act, like playing their instruments upside down.

To check out the full range of their talent, watch the video above.

Even those of us that love -- or at least accept -- our bodies tend to wish we were a little skinnier or toned or smooth or flat. YouTube user Dodie Clark perfectly articulates the tension that exists between how we want to feel (and know we should feel) about our bodies and how women actually feel on a day-to-day basis. As Clark explains, the two are often dangerously in conflict with each other.

She poignantly says:

I love my body
We know that's a lie
Because I can't wear leggings
They show my big thighs
I don't conform to society's rules!
But it sure would be nice to look thin by the pool.
I'm tubby and proud I say out loud
But staring at my fat is not allowed
I'll pull up my tights and wear baggy tops
And Google how many calories are in lollipops

They say be healthy be happy and I am neither
But I don't want to munch salad either
my stomach is screaming for more than just leaves
Stuff me with chocolate and chips and cheese!
The three dreaded c's where the calories are in the triple digits.

Clark's words tremble on the shaky bridge between "thin" and "happy," and many women can relate to the discovery that neither an "good" day of salad-eating or a "bad" one of chocolate actually makes them much happier. She reminds us that practicing body positivity is a daily process, and having occassional (or daily) doubts about our self-image does not mean we have failed ourselves -- or each other -- in the ongoing crusade for body acceptance.

"Oh make me a princess, a size zero fairy, but that just can't happen. Unless I give up dairy," Clark laments. Watch the video to the end to see how she solves this conundrum. (Full disclosure: you will want ice cream instantly.)

On Wednesdays we wear pink and write about "Mean Girls." Released 10 years ago this month (on April 30, 2004), "Mean Girls" has never been far from the cultural conversation. Netflix just added the high school classic to Instant Watch. In March, writer and co-star Tina Fey teased the idea of some kind of "Mean Girls" reunion. One month before that, star Lindsay Lohan alluded to a homecoming as well. Even the film’s supporting characters are well cataloged: This year, BuzzFeed reminded us that Kevin G. (Rajiv Surendra) grew up handsome, while Entertainment Weekly rounded up Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett) and Gretchen Weiners (Lacey Chabert). But what about the people who really made "Mean Girls" our favorite movie? Not Fey, Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried, but Coach Carr, Trang Pak, Amber D’Alessio and the girl who doesn’t even go here? To celebrate 10 years of “Mean Girls,” HuffPost Entertainment tracked down the film’s key background players to find out what they remember about making the high school classic.

Dwayne Hill as Coach Carr



Do you get recognized for "Mean Girls"? I don't look the same anymore. I've kind of got a beard. I look like an upscale hobo as opposed to a predatory authority figure. When people find out I'm in "Mean Girls," their jaws just drop. [...] I remember the first time people walked up to me who were fans. I used to work in a big production studio in Toronto. My office was in there. These two guys used to convert one of the studios into a rave party at night. They were club owners. They walked up to me and went, "You were in 'Mean Girls.'" I was like, "You've seen 'Mean Girls'? You two giant grown men love 'Mean Girls'?"

Did you think "Mean Girls" would be such a cultural phenomenon? I don't think anybody did. Mark Waters was, I think, a hot director at the time, so he had some buzz about him. Tina Fey was just the news anchor on "Saturday Night Live" who wrote jokes about George Bush being stupid. It was light fluff, but this was a movie that deals with really serious topics. You don't even realize that until the end. You're like, "Oh my God, did we ever take a journey!" [...] It's so universally loved. It speaks to everybody. That's Mark Waters and Tina Fey. Mark did "House of Yes," and Tina Fey is so in touch with her humility and honesty that everyone just relates to her voice.

When was the last time you saw someone from "Mean Girls"? You know what's funny? I did a sketch on "Late Night With David Letterman" last fall, which, of course, was a check off the bucket list. But Tina Fey was the guest. I didn't have the chance to say hi to her, but I thought it was so funny. Ten years later, she's now golden, because she deserves to be golden, because she's the hardest working woman in show business.

Clare Preuss as Caroline Krafft



How did you get involved with “Mean Girls”? I have an agent, so I got an audition, and he was like, "I think for this part, you should Method act and go in looking as much like that person as possible." I didn't wash my hair for a couple of days and just got into the world of Caroline Krafft and went in there as Caroline.

What do you remember about being on set? Tina is in that scene, but she's in the audience. She was kind of chill in that scene. Tina and I got along because she felt like I looked a lot like she did in high school. Lindsay was lovely, too. Mark and I played a lot, though. Over the two days of shooting, I started channeling Molly Shannon's Mary-Catherine Gallagher character [from "SNL"]. We were playing a lot. It was really good.

What was it like getting into character? It was the only time in my life I've ever had an eyebrow fitting and an eyebrow prosthetic. I have moles on my face, but they made one of them a lot bigger -- like a boil or worse. Shooting was almost a month after the audition. They asked me to grow in my mustache and then put a bunch of mascara on my mustache. I felt like quite the beauty queen coming out of that makeup trailer.

Do you get recognized for "Mean Girls"? I have absolutely been recognized been many times for Caroline Krafft. Not by people I know. People I know have watched the movie, known I was in the movie, and [then don't recognize me]. [...] Mark was super personable and awesome with the actors and really integrated. So when I got to the wrap party, I was like, "Hey, Mark!" He looked at me like he didn't know who I was. I was like, "Okay, I realize I didn't play a huge part or anything, but we had a good camaraderie." So I go, "Oh, I'm Caroline Krafft." He was super shocked. He had never seen me out of Caroline Krafft land. He dragged me over to Lorne Michaels, and was like, "This is Caroline Krafft!" Lorne has seen a thousand people dressed up for "SNL," so in very famous Lorne fashion, he was like, "Oh, nice to meet you." Mark was like, "I can't believe it!" It was fun to shock him.

Julia Chantrey as Amber D'Alessio



Amber was originally supposed to have masturbated with a hot dog, not made out with one. Did you know that line was going to change? No. I don't know why we didn't know it was going to change, though, because Lindsay was such a key factor in terms of her market. I don't know why it wasn't anticipated that the word wasn't going to go with the PG-13 rating.

Is that your most enduring memory from the set? I remember clearly shooting that, but my biggest memory was going into ADR to try and fix it. I was working overnight, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., at Tim Hortons. It was my "day job," but it was an overnight job, so whenever I had to audition for anything during the day, it was like getting up in the middle of the night. I can remember dragging myself out of bed, probably on more than one occasion, and going to the studio to try and get rid of the masturbate word. There was the bleachers scene with Tim Meadows chastising the girls for the eruption in the hall. I'm still physically there, but there was an exchange between my character and Tina's character that had to be cut because they couldn't dub the masturbate line. Mark, the director, was in L.A. at that point. They were telecasting him in and playing with every word that could possibly resemble masturbate. They couldn't get it.

Did you think "Mean Girls" was going to be such a cultural phenomenon? When I think back about it now, I remember how I almost did not audition because when I got the sides, all I saw was something about masturbation and a hot dog. I was like, "I don't even want to get up for this." I remember thinking that it was like porn. But I went, and it was only after I had been cast that I got the full script. As soon as I saw Tina's name on it I was like, "Ohhhh. Okay. Good thing we booked that one."

When did you realize the impact "Mean Girls" had on pop culture? It was a few years. I remember knowing the script was really good. I loved Tina's sense of humor. I recognized the intellectual dry commentary on the teenage hierarchy. The set was really fun, but you can be on a lot of fun sets and it doesn't mean the end product is going to be fun at all. So it was probably a few years later. Facebook was coming out at that time, and it was only when Facebook had been established for a few years that I started getting contacted by people who had hunted me down through Facebook. My coverage wasn't that elaborate, so for people to recognize me on the street or through social media just by that one line made me realize how many people must have been seeing this.

When was the last time you saw someone from "Mean Girls"? Just a few weeks ago. I was at a theater and I ran into the girl who played Dawn. The tampon girl I run into all the time -- the girl with the huge vagina line. I run into them in Toronto quite a bit.

Jill Morrison as Crying Girl



What's your most enduring memory from the set? Meeting Tina Fey and working with her was amazing and surreal. I have always been inspired by the characters on "SNL," and thought she was hilarious. I walked into the large gymnasium where it was filmed and it was quite a sight, and Mark Waters walked up to me right away and was so friendly, and introduced me to Tina. It was a dream!

Do people recognize you from the movie? "Mean Girls" is amazing for the ability to capture generations, so my fans start fairly young and go to much older with "she doesn’t even go here" love. The other night after the live taping of the hilarious sitcom I work on, "Package Deal," "Mean Girls" fans approached me. It happens every day, on sets or in social situations, when people find out. But I am generally not approached about it on the street. I mostly enjoy the tweens though; they are pretty cute about it. But it's pretty constant and it’s been a really neat, exciting experience.

Did you think "Mean Girls" would be such a cultural phenomenon? The movie was my first gig, and I was already pretty overwhelmed by that. I thought Mark's direction was brilliant, and the way he worked with me was incredible and challenging. I knew the script was really funny and smart, and I could see the acting was good. But the reaction to it took me years to get used to. I sometimes could not believe the "she doesn’t even go here" craze. The attention for it has also really helped my career, and I will always be thankful for that. I once had a fan send me a t-shirt with a picture of a cake she had made with a rainbow on it. I think Crying Girl would have gobbled that up.

What do you remember about the wrap party? I have great memories about the wrap party. I hung out with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and it was pretty cool. I remember being nervous, but standing at the bar and watching Amy dance and loving the situation because she was being so entertaining, and it made me feel like I had front row tickets to "SNL." They were both so nice, it was a lovely experience and I really admire both those women very much.

Have you seen anyone from the film in recent years? I have not seen anyone from the film, which now when I go to answer this question makes me hope that changes! But it's awesome to watch the cast’s careers develop and grow.

Jeff Moser As Farting Guy



What’s your most enduring memory from the set? Because I was the farting guy, the crew, as a prank, put a fart machine underneath the chair I was sitting on. That was pretty comical. I remember chatting with Lizzy Caplan and some of the cast in between the shots and set-ups. Also, I actually had somebody back into my car on the first day. I was late due to an accident, but I had a great time.

What was it like the first time you watched "Mean Girls"? My family was there, and, of course, my dad was like, "Hey, everyone, do you want to meet the farting guy?" "Thanks a lot, dad!" It was a lot of fun.

Do you still get recognized? I still get the odd person that will look and go, "Were you in 'Mean Girls'?" "Yeah, I was the farting guy!" [laughs] I've had some fun with that over the years.

Olympia Lukis as Jessica Lopez



Do you get recognized for "Mean Girls"? The craziest time was when I was at a club in Toronto and these guys came up to me and were like, "Um, sorry to bother you, but were you in 'Mean Girls'?" And at this point, I'd cut my hair and looked totally different, and I looked at these kids like, is this a joke? Am I on “Candid Camera”? Are you serious? And they’re like, "We recognize your voice, so we just had to come and ask you. We watched that movie every single day for a whole year, and we were obsessed." These kids recognized my voice! We're in a club, loud music, and these kids totally knew me. I do definitely get some people who say I look familiar, but once I tell them or once they figure it out, they're like, "Yeah, totally!"

Did you think "Mean Girls" would be such a cultural phenomenon? Never in a million years did I think it would be such a pop culture phenomenon. I remember reading the script when it came to my door. I was 20 or 21 when I made that movie, and I was just so excited. Oh, Tina Fey! That was the most recognizable name, and Amy Poehler, because of the "SNL" cast. Lindsay Lohan was just "Parent Trap," and she was coming off of "Freaky Friday," so I would tell my friends I was in this movie and they'd ask who’s in it and I’d say, "Oh, Lindsay Lohan." "Who's that?" "Rachel McAdams." "Who’s that?" "Amanda Seyfried." "Who’s that?" People that now you definitely know who they are. But at the beginning, I remember saying to them, "Remember the girl from 'Party of Five'? Yeah, she's in that movie." Even reading the script from Tina Fey I was laughing and thinking this movie is so weird and hilarious, because there's no real movie that's been like that ever. People can compare "Clueless" to it or certain other movies from the '90s, but there's definitely not been a movie like "Mean Girls" made since. It's truly a standout, standalone movie.

What do you remember about the wrap party? I was drinking amaretto sours at that point in my life. I remember feeling nice at that party. I met Lorne Michaels and they had karaoke. I remember I sang a song that Tina Fey really liked. My go-to karaoke song is No Doubt -- that's always a staple of mine, but I didn't sing that one that day. Tina said she loved that Jennifer Lopez song "Play." And I sang that song, and as I was singing it -- and I was about four or five amaretto sours deep -- I couldn't remember how the song goes. So as I'm singing the song, I feel it just falling off the rails. As I'm struggling through it, Tina Fey comes out of nowhere and basically saves the day. She scoops me up and starts singing the song with me.

What's your most enduring memory from the set? There was one scene where they did the fire alarm and the sprinklers came on, and we all go into the gym. There was a scene where I'm sitting there in the wheelchair and they had to change the cameras around, so there were like 300 girls as extras in the gym scene, right? And I get up off my chair because it's take five, and you hear about 10 girls in the background going, "Oh, my god!" Because they thought I was really in a wheelchair, so they were shocked when I stood up. She walks!

Jan Caruana as Emma Gerber



What was your most enduring memory from the set? Everyone was so great on that set. I still keep in touch with a few of the girls. But in terms of awesome memories, sitting in the makeup chair one day and getting to chat with Amy Poehler about the Upright Citizens Brigade and having her talk about it the same way I would talk about the small theater company I was part of at the time. Also getting to meet Tina Fey. Getting to meet Lorne Michaels at the cast party and having him know who I was, that was amazing. So there were just lots of cool things that happened.

Do people recognize you from the film? Not as much as they used to. I mean it has been 10 years, and that's the thing that makes me realize it has been 10 years the most. I used to get recognized all the time and it was hilarious. People would want to take their pictures with me and that was really funny because you think, you have such a small amount of screen time but those characters really affected people, I guess.

Did you think it was going to be a cultural phenomenon? Not really. When you are filming it, you are kind of in the middle of it, and you kind of don't really know what it's going to be. I remember when I first got the script, I knew that it was really, really funny and I knew that if everything went well, based on the script alone, I thought it would be a great film. And it really was. I think 10 years later it still holds up.

Ky Pham as Trang Pak



What was your most enduring memory from the set? The whole thing was so hilarious and every scene that I shot was so funny. The one scene when the Burn Book came out and everyone is just fighting in the hallway, and it was utter chaos. I was having that catfight with the other "cool Asian girl" and we were actually clawing at each other, and I had scratch marks all over me. She had my skin under her nails, we actually really went at it. It was really funny.

I did have some English lines, but when we started filming Mark [Waters] cut them all. I had to go home and have a bunch of the lines translated into Vietnamese, because I had no idea how to translate it myself. I took my lines to my dad, and some of the things in the movie that I was saying were really rude. Like, I had to ask my dad how to things like, "Why are you always cockblocking me," and "n***a, please." And my father says to me, "What the hell? First of all, [said in a whisper] Why are you calling people n***as, and second, why are you saying please after you insult them?" It was so funny. But there is no literal translation, so he just came up with something else that was fitting.

Do people recognize you from the movie? Not until they know me. Like, after they've met me and they watched the film. Then they'll be like, "Hey, were you in 'Mean Girls'?" and I'm like, "What are you talking about?"

Did you think it was going to be a cultural phenomenon? I had no idea. When I went for the audition, I didn't know it was a feature film. I thought it was a made-for-TV Canadian movie. I didn't even know it was a feature until I saw the previews on TV. I had no clue, it was really funny. I thought it was an after-school special.

Erin Thompson as Dawn Schweitzer



What was your most enduring memory from the set? It was my audition. It was my first audition for a feature film and when I came into the casting room, Mark Waters, the director, was actually in the room, which surprised me. So I did my audition, and when the reader responded with, "Who wouldn't say that?" I gave my very best stink eye to the reader and the director laughed. And that for me, as a young actor, was a really wonderful experience.

Do people recognize you from the movie? There was one time about five years after the movie came out. I was out and about, and I was recognized by someone that I didn't know at all while out at a bar singing karaoke. And as I was leaving I could hear a guy shouting, "Dawn! Dawn!" And that's not my name so I kept walking, but he grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around and was shaking me and says, "You're Dawn Schweitzer from 'Mean Girls'!" It was lovely he was so excited to meet me, it was a really nice experience.

Did you think it was going to be a cultural phenomenon? I knew when I got the script that it was a great movie. Tina Fey is an amazing writer. She's definitely one of my heroes and someone I look up to. She took a non-fiction book written by Rosalind Wiseman about girl politics and culture and turned it into this amazing, funny film. And Mark Waters heading it as the director -- it's so wonderful because his brother, Daniel Waters, wrote "Heathers," and now he’s made "Mean Girls," which is the "Heathers" of this generation. Did I know that going into it? No, but the seeds were definitely there.

Stefanie Drummond as Bethany Byrd



What was your most enduring memory from the set? I know you spoke to my best friend Jan, who played Emma Gerber, and my fondest memory is of our matching dresses that we wore during the prom scene. They were hilarious. They were long and puffy, and hers was bright blue and mine was bright pink. And I just remember putting on these dresses with my best friend and getting walked to set, it’s pretty remarkable. Just in terms of friendship and our the extravagance of it. [Check out Stefanie's photo here]

You know the scene in [the girls' changing room] where Rachel McAdams' character has holes cut in her shirt? So I had to wear a towel in that scene, but I didn't know I had to. I thought I would be wearing like gym clothes or something, and then I was like, "I'm going to be wearing a towel in a movie? What is going on?" I had never been in a movie before and I didn't know how big the towel was going to be, so it was freaking me out. So the wardrobe girls and the PA guys, they all put on towels with me before I had to shoot the scene. And now in retrospect, when I saw it, it's a huge towel, but at the time it really freaked me out. But it was so cute that they did that. The crew was so wonderful and Mark Waters was amazing.

Do people recognize you from the movie? All the time! It kills me. I'll be in hot yoga or something and people will ask me, "Are you the girl with the wide-set vagina?" It surprises me how often it happens. It makes me laugh. A lot of people love saying the lines to me, people are really sweet. I've never not had anyone been really cool about it.

Did you think it was going to be a cultural phenomenon? I knew it was going to be a really funny movie. I read the script and I laughed. I knew Tina Fey had written it and I couldn't believe I was reading words that Tina Fey had written -- and that I was going to get to say them. And then when I found out who was going to be in it -- like Amy Poehler -- these hilarious, strong women. I knew it was going to be funny, but I had no idea it would go on for like a decade.

Sharron Matthews as Joan the Secretary



What was your most enduring memory from the set? It was my very first feature film and I was so nervous. I was sitting in my trailer on the very first day, and I heard this teeny little knock on the door and Tina Fey was standing there. She said, "Sharron, I'm Tina," and I thought, "I know." She said, "I just wanted to come walk you to set, we are so happy to have you on this movie." She walked me to set and she talked to me about my audition, and she loved that I was in musical theater and she just went to such great lengths to make me feel comfortable. That's what I thought happened on every feature film, which of course it doesn't. She put me at such great ease that it was a fabulous shoot for me.

Do people recognize you from the movie? You know what? They do. I was just out for a meeting with a production company at dinner and someone asked me if get recognized from "Mean Girls" and I said, "Oh yeah, all the time." I swear not 10 minutes later, a young man walked up to me and said, "You're from 'Mean Girls,' aren't you?" It hadn't happened in a while, but someone just wrote on my Facebook page, "You don't know how much this movie meant to our generation." And that person was probably 21. It's wild. I'm thinking, "You were 11 when I made this movie." But every generation has kind of claimed it as their own.

Did you think the movie would have such staying power? I remember thinking that it was a really good script. That made me hopeful for it being a good movie, but I don't think anyone guessed that it would be this enduring.

Daniel DeSanto as Jason



What was your most enduring memory from the set? My first day on set, I met all the girls and I was pretty nervous because I was a big fan of Lacey Chabert's because I used to watch "Party of Five" all the time, and she was really hot. But in person she was even hotter, it was crazy. We were doing the scene where Lacey's character and my character were in the bathroom together, and in the script, Lindsay's character is supposed to open the door and see us, even though we're not doing anything and just moves on. Mark Waters, the director, he would give us a cue for Lindsay at the door. He'd yell, "Lindsay!" and then we'd react. We rehearsed a couple times and then he took me aside and told me, "When we roll, lean in like you are going to kiss Lacey." And already I was super nervous because I never kissed a girl on screen before, and I just kind of looked at him and he told me he'd yell for the cue before I would actually kiss her or anything. So then we go back and he yells action, and now I'm even more nervous and I'm sitting there, looking at Lacey and she puts her hand on my chest and I'm sure my heart was beating out of my chest. And then I sort of played with her hair, and lean in for the kiss -- and Mark is not stopping me. Now I'm already committed, so it's not like I can pull back, so I kiss her. And then all of a sudden finally Mark Waters yells "Lindsay!" and we both react and look at the door and out of nowhere Lacey just slaps me. That was not part of the script at all. And my reaction was real because I was shocked she hit me, and she hit me pretty hard. There was stunned silence for a couple seconds, and all of a sudden you hear our director just start howling with laughter and finally he yells "cut." And that was the only take of that scene that we did.

Do people recognize you from the movie? All the time, it's crazy. Every once in a while I'll get people saying to me, "Jason, you're such a skeeze." I’ll get, "Go shave your back now." I get "Butter your muffin" all the time. It's crazy how much that line sort of made it. We didn't even know what it meant at the time, because the original line that we shot was, "Is your cherry popped? Would like us to assign someone to pop your cherry?" That line didn't make it through MPAA ratings, so we had to change it. When we went into do ADR for the film, myself and the director, he was just throwing a bunch of different stuff at me: "Is your taco spicy? Is your cookie baked?"

[...]

It's crazy. I’m newly single now, and when I was in L.A. about a month ago my friends were telling me about Tinder, and I got on it, and I thought it was pretty cool. So I started getting matched and stuff like that, and this one girl messaged me, and she was like, "Hi" and I was like, "Hey," and she says to me, "I have a question for you." And I said, "Shoot." And she said, "Can I butter your muffin?" And then I deleted the app after that.

Did you think it was going to be a cultural phenomenon? No. I mean, the script was funny and through the auditions I met Waters and he was really great, and that was exciting. But, I mean Lindsay [Lohan] was just coming off "Freaky Friday." Rachel [McAdams] was just coming off of "The Hot Chick." I remember sitting at lunch with Rachel and telling us about "The Notebook," but not for her, she was saying that everyone is going to freak out when this movie comes out because of this guy Ryan Gosling. Of course Lacey [Chabert] had her voice work and "Party of Five," and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Ana Gasteyer and Tim Meadows, everyone knew from "SNL." But "30 Rock" hadn't happened yet, neither had "Parks and Recreations." It was basically on the cusp. We had no idea. Everyone had kind of done something, but we just thought we were shooting another high-school movie, right? I mean I had no idea. It's such a rare thing.

UPDATE: As first noticed by a commenter on Stereogum and later confirmed by a representative for Epic Records in an email to Slate, the song below is not from "XSCAPE." Instead, it's an old version of the song "XSCAPE," which will be updated for the release of the new record. Head to Slate for the full story, or don't and just listen to the old song below since it's still great.

EARLIER: The title track from "XSCAPE," the new Michael Jackson album that will be released five years after his death, has leaked online. Produced by Rodney Jerkins, "XSCAPE" is vintage MJ: there are woo-hoos and hee-hees plus a driving bass line that basically invites everyone to dance like no one is watching. Listen below.

[via Vulture]