Let’s Make Neil Gaiman Dramatically Read The Entire Cheesecake Factory Menu

The Cheesecake Factory’s menu is the In Search of Lost Time of the restaurant industry, in that it is far too long and probably includes a madeleine or two. 

Neil Gaiman is a very famous author (American Gods, Stardust, Coraline) with a notably soothing British accent, who has nothing to do with the Cheesecake Factory but has been dared to read its convoluted bill of fare anyway.

How’d this happen?

It all began with writer/comedian Sara Benincasa, a self-professed cheesecake addict, whose Twitter bio now reads “Neil Gaiman Will Read The Entire @Cheesecake Menu If We Raise $500K For @Refugees.” 

In a Crowdrise campaign launched today, she outlined her mission to coax Gaiman into performing a dramatic reading of the menu ― which, according to Benincasa, consists of at least “8,000 pages,” representing what we feel is a very reasonable estimate.

The campaign states plainly:

I asked Neil Gaiman if he’d do a live reading of the Cheesecake Factory menu if I raised $500,000 for a charity of his choice. And because he’s not just a great artist but a great person, he said yes. He chose UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. I want to hit this goal by World Refugee Day on June 20. 

Why? Well, why not?

Gaiman has already agreed to comply with the absurd Cheesecake challenge. If, you know, his fans are capable of scrounging together half a million dollars before June 20.

So far the campaign has raised just over $1,400, so Gaiman’s readers certainly have some donating to do. Go ahead, make your strange, seemingly arbitrary, Cheesecake-laced literary dreams come true here.

And don’t forget the incredibly necessary hashtag: #neilcake.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=56421d28e4b0b24aee4be334,587aa88ae4b077a19d180e44,58e2a109e4b03a26a36519a1,57309099e4b0bc9cb0474c2a

— 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.

This Little Boy Had A ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’-Themed Birthday Party And It Was Awesome

We’ve seen a Costco birthday party, personal injury lawyer-themed birthday party, “Golden Girls” party and even a poop-themed birthday party. But we must admit we have a special affection for this little boy’s “Mrs. Doubtfire” party.

Evan Kowalski of Wyandotte, Michigan celebrated his 4th birthday with a fun-filled tribute to the iconic Robin Williams film. “My son saw the movie about six months ago and just loved it!” his mom, Laura, told HuffPost. “He thought it was very funny and who doesn’t love Robin Williams?”

The little boy’s “Mrs. Doubtfire”-themed party took place on May 13 at Downriver Gymnastics in Southgate. The event featured drawings of Euphegenia Doubtfire, a custom cake, and a “run-by fruiting” sign with fruit kabob snacks.

The goodie bags were personalized with “Thank you for coming, _____ dear” messages for each guest.

Laura credits many helpers with bringing the party together somewhat last-minute. Her mom, Pamela, and cousin, John, helped with the decorations. 

“All of this was done SO fast, just to make a 4-year-old boy happy!” Laura said. “It’s really incredible.”

The mom said she’s been fortunate to have support from friends and family, as her husband’s job often requires him to be away. “My motto with parenting is it takes a village!” she said, adding that she turned to an even wider village of people to figure out the birthday cake.  

“I was thrown for such a loop when Evan said he wanted a ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ party, so I quickly posted on a local Facebook page, Downriver and Friends looking for a baker. That’s how I found Angie Claxon (Cakes by Sweetypants), who made the amazing cake.”

Evan loved every minute of the party, but his favorite part was definitely the cake, which featured several elements from the movie ― including the infamous face cream scene. “It met ALL of his expectations,” the mom said. Evan’s 7-year-old sister, Allison, and 12-year-old brother, Ethan were also big fans.

Laura told HuffPost she’s been overwhelmed by the positive response to Evan’s party. After the mom shared photos from the event on social media, a local news station reached out to do a segment about it. 

“I never in a million years expected it to get attention outside friends and family,” she said. “It’s been so fun, though! Definitely something for the baby book.” 

H/T BabyCenter

— 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.

‘Women Photograph’ Honors The Female Photojournalists Documenting Our World

Photojournalism is far removed from its glory days ― the so-called Golden Age of the 1930s to 1960s ― when photographers toted Leicas and experimented with the first flash bulbs. Back then, behemoths like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and other founding members of Magnum Photos dominated the field, delivering onto the public historic images of military events, far-away countries, and images of the world people would otherwise never see.

Decades later, after magazines began to decline in popularity, so too did the prestige of photojournalism. Nonetheless, those left on the front lines of professional photojournalism are still responsible for capturing some of the world’s most captivating images. Take, for example, Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici’s photo snapped seconds after the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey

“Photojournalism is responsible for dictating how the general public sees the rest of the world,” documentary photographer Daniella Zalcman told HuffPost. “The photos in our newspapers and magazines expose people to issues and places and individuals they’ll likely never interact with personally.”

However, much like the early days of Cartier-Bresson, Capa and co., another aspect of the photojournalism scene has persisted: The majority of our chief storytellers are also still white men, Zalcman explained.

According to The New York Times, women have consistently accounted for only 15 percent of the entries to the prestigious World Press Photo awards in the last five years. Furthermore, around 80 to 100 percent of the images contained in publications’ roundups of most significant photos in 2016 belonged to male names. Incredible (and mostly white) female figures like Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange and Inge Morath managed to overcome the stale assumptions of their time ― that women couldn’t handle the necessary equipment or fend for themselves in conflict-ridden areas. Yet their success stories can register as outliers today.

Women in the 21st century aren’t getting the most valuable assignments from wire services, newspapers or magazines, Zalcman told the Times, suggesting that gender disparities in the industry are alive and well. She cited a few obstacles contemporary women photojournalists face in particular, such as biased hiring practices, a gender-based confidence gap, the difficulties of balancing personal lives with careers, and sexual harassment in the field. 

In an attempt to help women overcome these obstacles ― and educate publications unaware of the many, many female photojournalists available for hire ― Zalcman founded Women Photograph, a database promoting 400 women photojournalists from 67 countries across the globe. Described as “a resource for female* documentary and editorial photographers and the people who would like to hire them,” the site links directly to the portfolios of women from Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Cameroon, Chile, Russia, Canada and beyond. It also provides resources and grant information to aspiring photographers who might frequent the page.

(The asterisk denotes that “gender nonconforming, transgender, and genderqueer friends are all welcome” on the site.)

“We can’t just look at war and politics and human rights stories through the eyes of men,” Zalcman told HuffPost. “If we want to be responsible storytellers, our community needs to be as diverse as the voices it represents.” 

Zalcman is aware that a mere list of female photojournalists won’t erase the gender-based obstacles women encounter in their line of work. But “Women Photograph” is a succinct retort to any editor who claims not to know any women in the business. 

Below is a preview of some of the photojournalists on display at “Women Photograph.” To see more photojournalism from women today, head to the database here

All captions were provided by “Women Photograph.”

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=591a08c9e4b07d5f6ba5372d,58f13c49e4b0bb9638e4048f,58f4dcaae4b0b9e9848d4085,58ee53c8e4b0f39274749ab5,5873d02ce4b02b5f858a3dd9

— 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.

TV Meets Real Life As Frank Underwood Is Photographed By Pete Souza

Pete Souza is known for capturing some of former President Barack Obama’s finest and cutest moments: gazing at the Chicago skyline with Michelle, joshin’ around with a WWII veteran, beating Steph Curry in Connect Four, looking like a Renaissance painting, and chatting out his Christmas shopping list with Bo the dog. (Obama and Bo have had some serious heart-to-hearts over the years.)

Now, because reality TV has already bled into the Oval Office, the photographer who documented one of the most outwardly levelheaded presidents in recent history has shot one of the most inwardly unhinged ― Frank Underwood, Kevin Spacey’s ruthless player on “House of Cards.”

In the images below, exclusively debuting on HuffPost, we see snapshots from a day in the life of President Underwood around Washington, D.C., with chief of staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), as he pays a visit to the Martin Luther King Jr., memorial surrounded by young adults blissfully unaware of his shady political dealings.

The stunt with Souza follows an unveiling of Frank Underwood’s likeness at the National Portrait Gallery last year, where Spacey ― in character ― was followed by members of the actual White House press corps.  

Set to debut May 30 on Netflix, the new season finds the Underwoods locked in an election battle as they renegotiate their relationship with each other in the nation’s highest office.

Catch the trailer 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.

Here’s Your First Look At The Dragons In ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7

It appears Dany will no longer be asking, “Where are my dragons?” Because you can’t miss them.

In a new photo from “Game of Thrones” Season 7, courtesy of HBO and Entertainment Weekly, we see Drogon doing his thing. And dude is big. Director Matt Shakman previously told EW that “the dragons this year are the size of 747s.” He wasn’t lying.

It seems Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen is in the middle of her conquest for Westeros and Drogon is just on a path of destruction ― as it should be.

Of course, in the image we only see Dany riding one dragon. Where are the other two?

Yes, this photo’s purpose could just be to hype up the size of the dragons, but the absence of Viserion and Rhaegal may be intentional. There are theories out there that others, including Mr. Jon Snow (Kit Harington) or even Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), could become dragon riders. Perhaps they’re hanging out with the other two while Dany is raining down fire with Drogon? Or maybe they’re all just making s’mores off screen? Either way, that’s something HBO probably wouldn’t want to spoil in a press pic.

It’s looking more and more likely that other dragon riders may appear, though.

Regardless, the new picture of Drogon is fire.

— 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.

Watch Katy Perry’s Head Terrify Innocent Museumgoers In NYC

Over the weekend, visitors at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art were asked if they’d like to participate in a video art installation. Interested parties were led into a dark room featuring a long dinner table covered with a blue checkered picnic tablecloth, a smattering of fruits and flowers and ― surprise! ― Katy Perry’s actual head. 

The art stunt was the latest edition of Derek Blasberg’s video series “Derek Does Stuff with a Friend,” a partnership with Vanity Fair. The point, it seems, is to horrify random museumgoers by placing them face-to-face with a pop star’s floating head assembled to look like some unlucky visitor’s main course. 

“The artist is called Katheryn Hudson,” Blasberg tells a group of innocents while introducing them to the faux art installation. (Hudson is Perry’s birth name.) “It’s a kind of rumination on the feast of life and everything we have to eat. And the two-faced capitalist system we are currently living in.” 

“Hi guys!” Katy Perry then says like a possessed cheerleader as various crowd members slowly realize what’s happening. She adds: “Buy my new single!” The whole thing is very, very awkward and seems to go on for quite a long time. 

The whole “I’m a sexy food” thing seems to riff off Perry’s recent music video for “Bon Appétit” ― which features Perry being kneaded, breaded and boiled in a nude-colored body suit, though she never seems to die or suffer from whatever torment is thrust upon her. Eventually, it is revealed that Perry has been in cahoots with the chefs the whole time, and ends up rebelling against the rich diners poised to cannibalize her, feasting on them instead. Bon Appétit! 

As Benjamin Sutton wrote in Hyperallergic, Perry’s attempt to combine the fields of fine dining and performance art is painfully weak, especially given the long history of fruitful hybrids exploring similar subjects. He cites artists like Marina Abramović, Carolee Schneemann and Jennifer Rubell as having created visceral, absurd and knotty imagery commenting on the relationships between bodies and meat, sex and food, sustenance and pleasure. 

Perry’s piece on the other hand plugged her album, and that’s about it. We’re reminded of the astute commentary of one particular Whitney-visitor-turned-art-critic who said, upon first encountering Perry’s decapitated head, “What the f**k?” 

Pretty much. 

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=59162d19e4b0031e737dbaf4,591b5441e4b07d5f6ba6ed87

— 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.

Moms Turn Their Pregnant Bellies Into Works Of Art In Imaginative New Trend

A creative app is giving moms the ability to show off their artistic sides and their pregnant bellies at the same time.

Using a photo-editing app called PicsArt, pregnant women are imagining what their babies look like in utero by adding colorful and cartoon-like details to photos of themselves. Some of the edited photos feature lifelike images of babies in the womb, while others are a bit more abstract. According to a tutorial on the PicsArt site, users can also add photos of their sonograms to pics of their pregnant bellies.

Many moms are sharing their edited images on Instagram using the hashtag #BabyInBelly. The creative trend is similar to the #TreeOfLife series that became popular on PicsArt last year. For those photos, moms added images of trees and their roots to breastfeeding selfies. 

Nicole Fisher, whose image appears below, told HuffPost that the #BabyInBelly trend “encourages parents to get creative with their pregnancy photos.”

Because PicsArt includes different filter effects like “Midnight” and “Rainbow,” each edited maternity photo is different. The one thing they have in common, though, is their ability to turn pregnancy into art. 

Check out more #BabyInBelly photos below.

#babyinbelly #ariesbaby #picsart #7weeksoldnow

A post shared by Camilla Jones (@camillaejones) on

Found a rather awesome photo editing app! This is B2 at 31 weeks and scan from 22 weeks ❤️ ❤️ #babyinbelly

A post shared by Bianca Considine (@bancaweaselhill) on

34 weeks! I'm now almost 36! Not long to go till we meet our little man! ❤️ ❤️ #babyinbelly

A post shared by Bianca Considine (@bancaweaselhill) on

Just messing around with @picsart and made a thing haha #babyinbelly #picsart

A post shared by Mikkayla Oe (@whatevercita) on

#babyinbelly my belly pic with savannahs ultrasound pic..things you do when bored lol

A post shared by Salena Collins (@salena_sal_collins) on

We also made #babyinbelly pic! Hello, our little Stella!!

A post shared by Tina Fabijan (@tina_fabijan) on

The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting.   

— 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.

Artist Projects Image Of Jeff Sessions In KKK Hood Across Department Of Justice

Artist and activist Robin Bell has captured the nation’s attention with his provocative light projections, cast across the facades of high-profile political buildings across the United States.

His most recent artistic interventions, executed late into the night on May 17, used the exteriors of the Department of Justice and FBI building as canvases. You might have been paying too much attention to Trump’s travels in Saudi Arabia to notice, but the images are pretty hard to miss: Bell projected Attorney General Jeff Sessions dressed as a Klansman in a white hooded robe adorned with the Ku Klux Klan insignia. 

The image tears into Sessions for past allegations of racist remarks and his present potential meddling in James Comey’s recent firing.

His image was framed by text snippets including “#SessionsMustGo” and “FireSessions,” as well as the line “I thought the KKK was OK until I learned that they smoked pot” ― an approximation of a statement Sessions made in the 1980s. 

Bell also projected images of politicians including Rex Tillerson, Nikki Haley and Scott Pruit, endowing them with truly haunting black demon eyes. Messages including “#WeNeedToSeeTheMemo” and “Impeach” flashed alongside them.

The artist also flashed a silhouette of a figure behind bars, accompanied by the phrase: “1/3 of black males can’t vote because of the war on drugs.”

Just last week Bell also made headlines for his work projecting “Pay Trump bribes here” and “Emoluments welcome” onto the exterior of Trump International Hotel in New York, attacking Trump’s questionable business ties with foreign governments.

An earlier work depicted the simple phrase: “Experts agree: Trump is a pig.”

Bell’s work provides simple yet searing messages of resistance where Trump and his team are sure to see them. As he told HuffPost in an earlier interview: “Maybe in the history books, it’ll show that we were not for this.” 

We look forward to seeing where the vigilante light artist strikes next. 

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=591a6bcbe4b07d5f6ba584a9,58fd4950e4b0f02c3870ebef,59137d4de4b0b1fafd0de012

— 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.

‘Dear White People’ Director And Star Break Down Why Black People Can’t Be Racist

Netflix’s “Dear White People” has been described as a strong modern-day take on race that is both clever and dynamic in its approach.  

The show, directed by Justin Simien, was adapted from his 2014 film of the same name, and is set on the fictional and predominantly white campus of Winchester University. Simien crafted a season filled with diverse portrayals of the black experience ― told through the lens of several students on campus ― that speak to the varied ways people of color are impacted by race.

The show touches themes like interracial relationships, police brutality, the complexities of the n-word and what it can be like to speak out against racism in the face of opposition ― something that feels especially timely. Simien and the show’s star, Logan Browning, stopped by HuffPost Black Voices to discuss myths that often come up in conversations about race and racism. 

In the video above, watch as Simien and Browning explain why double standards around racism simply don’t exist, like: Why a show titled “Dear Black People” would be offensive, why the n-word is off-limits to white but not black people; Why minority-focused spaces like HuffPost Black Voices exist but HuffPost White Voices does not; and why there’s simply no such thing as reverse racism.

— 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.

This Mother Rewrote A Popular Song To Combat Mom Shaming

Mom shaming seems to have become an inescapable part of parenting today. But this mama is saying enough is enough!

Blogger Riona O Connor rewrote Rag’n’Bone Man’s “Human” to tackle this nasty reality. “Mom shaming ain’t cool,” she sings. “I wish I had time to judge like you do, but I’m busy with kid stuff ― like cleaning up poo.”

The video has reached over three million views on Facebook, between the blogger’s page and the Selfish Mother “blogzine” page. 

As Riona told HuffPost in an email, her video is “parenting parody for the mom shamed, thong-fearing, mess-embracing humans who happen to be parents.”

Hear, hear!

— 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.