Hasta La Gadget!

The second episode of “RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race” was no less anxiety-inducing than the first, culminating in the exit of the most veteran queen competing for this season’s crown.

Tatianna, the stunning and opinionated queen coming to the stage from season two, walked this week after the show set up a “Rolaskatox-esque moment” during elimination, in the words of Alaska.

What does this mean? Alaska won the lip-sync, forcing her to make a choice between her two season five friends Roxxxy Andrews and fan-favorite Detox.

Alaska smartly chose her friends over Tatianna since it seems that the eliminated queens might have a say in the season’s winner. But that doesn’t mean Tatianna didn’t make an impact during her brief stint on the show.

Check out Tatianna’s exit interview with The Huffington Post below and stay tuned for more weekly interviews with the queens leaving “RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race.” 

The Huffington Post: Let’s talk about your life between season two of “Drag Race” and the premiere of “All Stars.” How did it change and what did you do with the platform that the show gave you?

Tatianna: The show gave me a career I didn’t know I’d have. For season two, I just wanted a chance to be on TV and didn’t really worry about what was going to happen after. Since then, I have traveled and performed all over the world. It’s been a big platform, full of truly amazing opportunities.

The Huffington Post: How does it feel to be pitted against people that you care about/have worked extensively with in such a direct way?

It’s a competition and those are just the rules. No one is taking it personally… and that’s good because no one really should.

How did it feel to be the lone queen from an early season on the show? Did you feel like you had more to prove?

I had something to prove to myself, but it had nothing to do with coming from an earlier season. Being on the show is different than how you perform in real life… I wanted to prove to myself that I could still be competitive in Ru’s workroom. 

What do you want people to know about who Tatianna is?

Tatianna is a cool chick. She’s down to earth, very normal and fun to be around.

Was there anyone who was not on “All Stars” that you think deserved to be there?

Definitely! Morgan McMichaels and Trixie Mattel should have been there.

What can we expect from Tatianna in the future?

You can expect to see me everywhere because I’m traveling the world, dropping new music and saying “Yes!” to any and all projects.

Stay tuned for more from this season’s queens. Missed last week’s interview with CoCo Montrese? Head here and check out a behind the scenes from World of Wonder with CoCo Tatianna below.

“RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race”airs on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Logo and VH1.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Joul Obaied grew up hiding his sexuality in Syria, a country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable with prison time. But after seeking refuge in Amsterdam, the 30 year old just celebrated his first ever pride parade.

“I was discreet all my life,” Obaied explained to HuffPost Rise. He said while there is a presence of gay life in Syria, it’s secret and “you cannot be open, you cannot share yourself.”

“It’s a shame to be gay there,” he said. “It’s really difficult because of our religions, community, cultures,” he said. But earlier this year, Obaied made the difficult decision to leave his home to live openly as an out and proud gay man in Amsterdam. 

While speaking with The Huffington Post, Obaied was decked out in rainbows and glitter as he celebrated pride in Amsterdam. He recently applied for permanent residency in the city. 

“It’s a really new experience,” he said. “New Life, and new Joul! New me. I’m new now.”

This video was produced by Susannah Gruder, edited by Holly Buechel and shot by Bas Voorwinde.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The giant panda, long a symbol of the conservation movement, is no longer listed as endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Its Red List of Threatened Species will now list the creatures as “vulnerable,” the international organization announced Sunday.

The bamboo-loving bears have seen a 17 percent surge in population numbers in the decade ending in 2014, largely due to conservation efforts in their native China. The most recent panda census counted 1,864 of the animals, excluding those below a certain age threshold. If you include cubs, that number approaches 2,060.

“The decision to downlist the giant panda to ‘vulnerable’ is a positive sign confirming that the Chinese government’s efforts to conserve this species are effective,” the IUCN’s latest assessment reads, before noting: “It is critically important that these protective measures are continued and that emerging threats are addressed.”

The IUCN went on to warn that the decreasing availability of bamboo ― the prime source of nutrition for pandas ― due to climate change could further stress the animals. If the phenomenon continues unabated, nearly a third of the world’s bamboo habitat could disappear in the next 80 years.

“The giant panda will remain a conservation-dependent species for the foreseeable future,” the agency concluded.

The announcement was countered during the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress this weekend with news that the Eastern gorilla, the world’s largest primate species, was upgraded to critically endangered after scientists announced “devastating population decline.”

China has perfected the art of panda breeding in recent decades, an almost humorously difficult endeavor as procreation is almost impossible with the bears. Scientists have dressed up in panda costumes and even developed “panda porn” to help get the animals in the mood.

The country has helped shepherd a score of new cubs into the world ― primarily at the hallmark Chengdu Panda Base and a select group of international zoos loaned breeding panda pairs.

The World Wildlife Fund, which has featured a panda in its logo since 1961 and long campaigned to raise awareness about the bears, praised the success of such conservation efforts.

“The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity,” WWF director general Marco Lambertini said in a statement.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Another familiar face is confirmed for Transformers: The Last Knight. Bruce Campbell ruminates on whether Ash vs Evil Dead could ever link up to the Evil Dead reboot. Plus, what’s to come on Once Upon a Time, and a new still from Supergirl. Spoilers Now!

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Meizu has taken to twitter to get official with its latest smartphone called the Meizu M3 Max. The name of the smartphone comes from the big 6.0-inch IPS screen with 450 cd/m2 brightness, 1080p resolution and 1000:1 contrast ratio. To keep the smartphone charged up and running it has a big 4100 mAh internal battery. That battery has mCharge 24W … Continue reading