California governor Jerry Brown recently declared an end to the state of emergency brought on by his state’s historically terrible drought. It’s a mid-level miracle, assisted by record rainfall earlier this year. If you don’t believe me, just look at these before and after images.
Impressed by late-night infomercial ads for blenders that can hack and slash through ice, nuts, and rocks? They might as well be primitive neanderthal tools compared to NightHawkInLight’s latest creation, which can turn potatoes into slivers and cabbage into coleslaw in the blink of an eye.
A Spanish dad gave traditional maternity photos a hilarious spin with his own photo shoot.
Francisco Pérez, known to his friends as Paco, posed for some parody pregnancy photos on the outskirts of Málaga City in southern Spain.
The series was the brainchild of photographer Martyn Wilkes.
“I had been recently doing lots of maternity work, and I wanted to do something different to break things up and have a bit of fun,” Wilkes told The Huffington Post. “I have known Paco for four or five years and admittedly often jested about his rather large stomach, which resembled a pregnant mother.”
The photographer came up with the outfit, painted stomach concept and flower accessories. He said his subject found the photo shoot hilarious and totally nailed the execution.
Both men are fathers, as Wilkes has a 5-year-old girl and 13-month-old boy, and Pérez has two daughters, 22-year-old Natalia and 26-year-old Virginia.
A story involving Natalia influenced Pérez’ decision to participate in the photo shoot and to write “Noelia” on his stomach.
After their second child was born, his wife sent him to officially register her name, Noelia. But Pérez had a few too beers along the way and his drunken scribble was misread as Natalia.
The dad decided to use this photo shoot to help make up for his mistake all those years ago and give his wife a Noelia. Fittingly, Wilkes compensated Pérez for his time with beer.
Although the shoot took place a year ago, the photos are still spreading giggles across the internet. Wilkes hoped the project would create good publicity for his work, but he ultimately had one goal.
“The main thing I was looking for was to make people laugh,” the photogarpher said.
Mission accomplished.
— 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.
Chrissy Teigen packaged her signature red-carpet glow into the makeup palette of our dreams.
The model and model citizen announced her new “Glow” face palette in collaboration with Becca Cosmetics on Thursday. “I CANNOT WAIT FOR YOU ALL TO TRY MY NEW GLOW PALETTE!!!,” she captioned an Instagram. “Every time I use it, I cannot believe it’s actually mine.”
The limited-edition palette comes with “Chrissy’s favorite highlighter,” Becca shimmering skin perfector in Rose Gold, plus three new shades: a pressed highlighter in Beach Nectar, a bronzer in Malibu Soleil, and a luminous blush in Hibiscus Bloom.
The palette will retail for $46 when it goes on sale in May. You can sign up online to get an alert when it’s available.
Glow for it!
— 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.
Abigail Breslin is taking a stand during National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
The actress posted a words-based image on her Instagram account on Monday that reads, “You are not obliged to have sex with someone that you’re in a relationship with. Dating is not consent, marriage is not consent.”
In the caption, Breslin implied that she had been sexually assaulted. “I knew my assailant,” she wrote. She concluded the post with the hashtags #SexualAssaultAwarenessMonth and #BreakTheSilence.
On Thursday, Breslin tweeted a related message:
In the wake of her Instagram post, a slew of celebrities responded with words of support.
Breslin’s post serves as an important reminder that 25 percent of sexual assaults are committed by a current or former intimate partner.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=5819f391e4b0cb89fdff2a82,58e24c14e4b0c777f788d24f,58debcdde4b0c777f78755d1
— 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.
A new project from The Chemical Brothers and Within are bringing a VR experience to Google’s WebVR Experiments. This project goes by the same name as the Chemical Brothers’ single: “Under Neon Lights.” To access the entire world with next-level musical excellence, this project is accessible through a smartphone, desktop computer, or Daydream VR headset – with Google Pixel smartphones … Continue reading
Becca Longo just stuck her powerful right foot into college sports history. The Arizona high school kicker became the first woman to receive a football scholarship at an NCAA Division II school or higher, CNN reported Friday.
On Wednesday, Longo signed a letter of intent to play for Adams State University, a Division II school in Alamosa, Colorado, ESPN wrote. About a dozen women have played football for NCAA schools but none was on a scholarship, according to the sports network.
Upon hearing that she was a pioneer in collegiate athletics, Longo told CNN, “I was completely shocked.”
She explained to USA Today that she contacted Adams State during the season, sent highlight tapes and heard back from the school soon after. She then visited the campus and fell in love with it. When Adams State offered her the scholarship, she said (per ABC 15), “I’m just so unbelievably grateful that somebody game me a chance.”
Longo made 30 of 33 extra-point attempts and hit a 30-yard field goal last season for Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona. But she apparently has greater range. Here she is in practice connecting from 48 yards out.
“There is no doubt she can be competitive,” Adams State coach Timm Rosenbach, a former NFL quarterback, told the Arizona Republic. “She has a strong leg, and she can be very accurate.”
Longo also plans to play basketball for Adams State.
— 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.
With U.S. and North Korea tensions rising, the hermit kingdom is preparing to celebrate the 105th anniversary of the birth of the nation’s founder, Kim Il Sung, with an expected huge military parade on Saturday.
Hundreds of journalists are in North Korea covering the festivities, allowing photographers to capture new images of the country, albeit on official media tours.
Check out the new images from North Korea below:
— 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.
“13 Reasons Why” was going to be an emo-teen tale that I could mindlessly watch while trying to be a responsible adult by ironing my work clothes. I had never read the book but had heard the premise ― the now seemingly mandatory inclusion of nostalgia through the use of cassette tapes ― and I was cynically unimpressed. Four hours later, and no clothes ironed, I managed to turn Netflix off. Two days later I had finished the series. I’m pretty sure I cancelled some light plans in order to do so.
“13 Reasons” is so much more than I thought it would be. It offers a deep delve into our sad cultural acceptance of rape and violence, of silence and willful ignorance. It is a harrowing but important story and well executed by the creative team. Flashbacks and mirrored scenes are utilized to make quick connections to the histories of the characters and to lead you through the mysteries of Hannah’s death, but they also work to maximise the feelings of loss and helplessness associated with such traumatic events. We need more shows like “13 Reasons Why”, not just for teens, but for everyone.
Right, there may be spoilers ahead, this is your warning.
This story is told through seven cassette tapes which Hannah recorded before her death. She guides us through the misdeeds of her peers and controls the narrative in this way. The other characters claim she is a liar, an unreliable narrator, but Hannah is the only character with nothing left to lose, nothing left to be taken. Her tapes are powerful, so the listener can pause, they can stop listening (albeit with repercussions organized by Hannah before her death), but they can’t argue with them. They can’t interrupt, change their story, or plead their case. The narrative is Hannah’s alone and for the first time she, a victim, wields the power. She speaks to us in a sarcastic, all-knowing tone ― the wise-cracking girl we see glimpses of in flashbacks, the girl that could have been. The narrative of abuse is hers alone to tell, and it’s not one that can be trifled with.
Further to the refreshing, necessary point of view, rape culture, objectification, and rape are central to the story and these themes are augmented by the show’s narrative structure. Acts of taking a woman’s body and turning it into an object of desire to be grabbed at and owned are shown repeatedly on screen.
The show opens on a party, a local girl, Kat’s, farewell party, which introduces many of our main players including Hannah. Here Kat tells Hannah to stay away from Justin because they have a thing. However Justin has that cheeky bad-boy-with-a-heart grin and soon after Kat and her family have moved Hannah and Justin strike up a flirtation. This is the beginning of Hannah’s spiral out of control. A photo Justin takes of Hannah is shared through the school, a hand is forced upon her leg, she is mocked, groped, stalked, slut-shamed, and finally Hannah is raped. Through one girl’s story, we are brought on a journey from the beginning to the end of rape culture. Every action is played out on Hannah’s body and we are forced to witness the destruction of each act as separate instances, and then the cumulative effect.
This is not an easy watch but what makes it powerful is the elimination of the male gaze throughout the show. When a list praising and criticising girls’ body parts is passed around the class there is no camera lingering over the girls’ bodies. When a pack of boys leer over Hannah because of the list, we see the fear in Hannah’s eyes rather than the boys’ lustful focus. There is no lasting gaze on the upskirt photo of Hannah, instead there is a moment of locking eyes with Hannah, of seeing the realization of what is happening to her. The upset. The shame. We are forced to focus on those emotions. To feel that. We are not given the power of the male gaze through the camera’s lens, rather we are put in her shoes so as to witness a young girl’s spirit being crushed.
By denying the male gaze “13 Reasons” refuses to glamorize rape, it refuses to let you avoid its horror, and allows you to understand the impact it has on the lives of the victims.
During Hannah’s rape, we do not witness penetration or other touches that might make this seem sexy. Instead, we are forced to watch Hannah’s eyes as they lose their lustre, her hands as they tense but then go limp, her face as it presses into the surface uncomfortable and detached. She does not say the word no, but she does not have to for us as an audience to understand the horror that is happening to this young girl. Every motion and lack of is noted on her person and we now see the world as a muted, cold, and dangerous place.
During another rape scene in episode nine, we witness the act from the point of view of three people. Hannah who is unwittingly trapped in the room, frozen in fear; Jess, whose vision is blurred and unsteady from her level of intoxication; and Justin, Jess’ boyfriend, who attempts to stop the rape but is locked out by the rapist, his friend. We do not see the act from the rapist’s point of view, the power he wields over his victim is seen through the eyes of others. We again are forced to feel helpless, scared, traumatized, and never given the view of the perpetrator. By denying the male gaze “13 Reasons” refuses to glamorize rape, it refuses to let you avoid its horror, and allows you to understand the impact it has on the lives of the victims.
Thanks to the smart storytelling, every scene, every microaggression, every attack is felt by the viewer. The series weighed heavy on me but I could not stop watching. It’s brave and unrelenting and should inspire real discussions about the dangers of rape culture, the importance of respecting yourself and others, and recognizing warning signs of suicide or self harm in people in families, schools, and amongst peers.
Far from being the twee teen tale I initially thought it would be, “13 Reasons” is a culturally significant story that unflinchingly points a camera at what many of us choose to ignore in our daily lives. By learning the story through Hannah’s own lived experience, we are forced to understand the perspective of the victim and emotionally deal with it. And from what they set up in the final episode, it looks like it will be more of the same for season two.
— 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.
YouTube, for all of its benefits, still lacks at least one basic feature a lot of other video players around the web have. That, as you’ve probably guessed from the title, is dark mode – even though YouTube has been around since 2006, there’s been no official way to “dim the lights” so you can better focus on the video … Continue reading
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
