Donald Trump Gave The Pope A Sculpture His Holiness Will Probably Regift

Turns out President Donald Trump’s taste in art is just about as refined as his taste in suits.

During Wednesday’s visit to the Vatican, 45 exchanged gifts with a dour looking Pope Francis. His holiness’ awesomely unsubtle gifts to our president included the pontiff’s 2015 treatise on climate change along with a large medallion reading, “I give this to you so that you can be an instrument of peace.” 

Trump, in return, gifted the Pope with a bronze sculpture of lotus flowers that just screams dentist waiting room. Seriously, the seafoam green figure makes Dale Chihuly seem like Auguste Rodin. 

The piece, called “Rising Above,” is the work of Florida-based artist Geoffrey C. Smith, whose sculptures often depict various species of plants and wildlife. “Art is important. It was man’s first form of communication and still one of the most powerful forms today,” Smith quotes himself as saying on his website.

Too true. Could Smith possibly let Trump, who’d like little more than to defund the National Endowment for the Arts, know?

According to the White House, Trump selected the sculpture because the sacred flower “evokes two universal values: unity and resilience.” In comparison to the Pope’s pointed presents, however, the floral arrangement seems to evoke the universal value of sleepiness. (From which Trump is probably suffering.)

It’s hard to gauge exactly what Pope Francis is thinking in the photo below, though we wouldn’t be surprised if a good friend of the Holy Father’s winds up with something very similar to the lotus sculpture come Christmas time. 

H/T artnet News.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=591471fae4b066b42171b5cc,59230019e4b034684b0e3dd0,592314b7e4b094cdba562c1e,591e0832e4b03b485cb00326,591afb91e4b0809be1581b88

— 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.

Behind The Poem That So Powerfully Captures Parenting In Times Of Tragedy

As news of the devastating concert attack in Manchester broke, people around the world turned to social media to share words of sorrow, fear and hope.

One popular message came in the form of a poem called “Good Bones” by writer Maggie Smith.

“Life is short, though I keep this from my children,” the powerful poem begins.  

“Good Bones” first went viral on social media last June following the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando and murder of British parliamentarian Jo Cox in the U.K. After the 2016 presidential election, the poem made the online rounds again with posts from celebrities like Alyssa Milano and Megan Mullally

The Washington Post declared that Smith’s poem “captured the mood of a tumultuous year.”

Smith lives in Ohio and has a 4-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. “I wrote the poem in 2015, thinking about how to spare my children from the harsher parts of the world, at least while they’re so young, without lying to them about it,” she told HuffPost. “How do we stay honest and also stay hopeful? Sometimes it’s hard enough to be optimistic, let alone project optimism to others.” 

Watching her poem’s rise to internet fame has been an interesting experience for Smith. “I was just telling Jen Benka, the executive director of the Academy of American Poets, how strange it is that when my mentions start blowing up on social media, I know something bad has happened somewhere in the world,” she said. “That’s when people start sharing ‘Good Bones’ again.” 

The poet said she found out about the Manchester attack Monday night through Twitter. “It breaks my heart that women, girls, and the LGBTQ community were targeted,” she told HuffPost. “I have a daughter who is 8 years old, and I’m sure someday I’ll take her to a concert as a special night out, just the two of us. I can’t imagine what those parents must be feeling. My heart is breaking for the families in Manchester.”

Because her kids are young enough to have limited access to the news, Smith plans to keep the Manchester attack from them while she can.  

Smith, whose upcoming book of poetry, Good Bones, will be published this fall, says she has mixed feelings about the titular poem’s role in the aftermath of public tragedies. 

“It’s incredibly gratifying and moving to see the poem travel so far and touch so many people, but it’s also heartbreaking and strange that when the poem is being shared widely on social media, it’s because of a tragedy or injustice,” the poet explained.

Still, she added, “All in all I’m glad that the poem is bringing people comfort or at least helping them see a bit of light in the darkness.”

— 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.

Justin Bieber Might Not Actually Know The Lyrics To ‘Despacito’

Justin Bieber might need to brush up on his Spanish.

The Canadian singer remixed Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s global hit “Despacito” last month. The new version shot to the top of the U.S. charts last week and became the first Spanish-language song to be No. 1 in the country since the “Macarena.” 

The remix marked the first time Bieber had sung in Spanish on a track. And according to E! News, he appeared to forget some of the lyrics to the hit song during a performance at the 1 Oak nightclub in New York City on Tuesday. 

Videos of when Bieber replaces Spanish lyrics with intelligible sounds or phrases like “I quit smoking ciggies” surfaced on Instagram on Wednesday. TMZ also posted a video of the performance. 

During an interview with AOL Build, Fonsi explained that the remix came out quite suddenly and was recorded in the span of about four days. The Puerto Rican singer also said that Bieber had insisted on singing in Spanish and learned the lyrics phonetically. 

“He wanted to sing the chorus in Spanish, we had lyrics for the whole song in English but he’s like ‘uh uh uh’ I’m doing it in español,” Fonsi said during the live interview on May 17. “He went there and he learned phonetically ‘Despacito.’ He did his thing, let me tell you.”

Watch Bieber do his thing in the videos above.

— 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 This Disabled Burlesque Performer Own Her Sexuality

Jacqueline Boxx is a burlesque performer, dancer and cat-owner. Oh, and she also happens to be disabled. 

The Scene recently featured Boxx in a short documentary where the burlesque dancer discussed her love for performing and how she deals with her disability on and off stage. 

“As a disabled person, I have a body that isn’t often celebrated,” Boxx told The Scene. “A lot of times it feels like disability means that your body should be hidden. Like I shouldn’t be pleased and happy and feel sexual as a disabled woman.”

When Boxx was in college, she was diagnosed with a rare and incurable syndrome called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which makes the joints in her body dislocate easily. She had always been a dancer, and was actually teaching dance at the time of her diagnosis. Boxx had to stop dancing and accepted the fact that she would never perform again.

It wasn’t until a few years later that she went to a burlesque show and remembered how much she missed dancing.   

“I went to a burlesque show and I thought how much I missed being there,” Boxx told The Scene. “I remembered the glitter and the rhinestones and how powerful I felt; and I thought ‘Man, it would feel really nice right now to feel powerful.’” 

So, Boxx started choreographing a burlesque performance ― from a wheelchair. She quickly found out that performing burlesque made her look and feel damn good.  

“When I’m performing I am showing that I love and accept my body as it is,” Boxx told The Scene. “The way in which burlesque is so in-your-face-aggressive about owning your body is inspiring. I think that the time has come for that to include disabled bodies.”

Boxx hopes viewers take away two things from the video. For disabled people, she hopes they can “start viewing their own bodies as sensual and sexual and confident.”

And for everyone else? “I don’t necessarily want to be know as the disabled burlesque performer,” Boxx said. “I want to be known as a burlesque performer who is a disabled women who lives authentically and encourages others to live authentically.” 

— 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.

Bill Gates Wants You To Read Trevor Noah’s Memoir This Summer

Deepen your mind while you deepen your tan.

Microsoft founder, philanthropist and avid bookworm Bill Gates has a few book recommendations for the summer. Each of the titles, which he listed in a blog post on Monday, are meant to help readers better understand the larger world around them.

“Some of these books helped me better understand what it’s like to grow up outside the mainstream,” Gates wrote. “As a child of mixed race in apartheid South Africa, as a young man trying to escape his impoverished life in rural Appalachia, or as the son of a peanut farmer in Plains, Georgia.” 

He adds, “I hope you’ll find that others make you think deeper about what it means to truly connect with other people and to have purpose in your life. And all of them will transport you somewhere else — whether you’re sitting on a beach towel or on your own couch.”

One book Gates recommends is Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show,” which details the comedian’s life growing up in apartheid South Africa.

“I loved reading this memoir about how [the] host honed his outsider approach to comedy over a lifetime of never quite fitting in,” Gates wrote.

To find out Gates four other picks, just watch the video above. Happy reading!

— 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.

‘Baywatch’ Stars Alexandra Daddario And Jon Bass Are Proud The Movie ‘Flips The Script’

There are a lot of things to be said about the new “Baywatch” movie starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron. Yes, it’s absurd. Yes, there are cringeworthy moments. No, it’s not as bad as “CHiPs.”

As The New York Times put it in their review of the movie, out May 25: “Like its source material, ‘Baywatch’ is sleazy and wholesome, silly and earnest, dumb as a box of sand and slyly self-aware. It’s soft-serve ice cream. Crinkle-cut fries. A hot car and a skin rash. Tacky and phony and nasty and also kind of fun.” 

This ability to be self-aware is what sort of saves the movie from falling into the trap of the stereotypical, sexist comedies we see as of late. Jokes that worked 10 or even five years ago no longer have the same effect. Women don’t want to be in nude scenes while their male counterparts get away scot-free. 

The creators behind “Baywatch” know that ― so they tried their best to add in some role reversal. 

“I think it was very important for all of us ― the cast and obviously the producers and director [Seth Gordon] ― to create female characters that weren’t just dumb and funny because they were dumb,” star Alexandra Daddario, who plays Summer in the film, told HuffPost during a Build Series interview on Wednesday. “The point was that Baywatch takes itself very seriously ― we’re all like CIA operatives but on the beach ― and all the women are very tough and strong and I think that made a lot of sense in the context of this film, and I think it actually makes it funnier. It’s a little cliché to just have the women there as eye candy ― part of the joke is that we’re all supernaturally hot, but that’s not just what it is.”

Jon Bass, who plays the “chubby” techie trainee Ronnie, echoed those sentiments, proving the point by saying he’s the only person who’s naked in the movie. 

“We do a really good job of sort of flipping the script and making sure that, yeah, the guys get their due. Because it’s 2017,” Bass told HuffPost.

“The essence of ‘Baywatch’ in and of itself is, you know, is sexy. It’s sexy, it’s beachy and it’s fun ― and we’re not throwing that out, we’re saying, ‘Look, that is a part of this movie, but we also know how absolutely hilarious and ridiculous that is.’” 

Ridiculous is the right word to describe one scene in particular that kicks off the film. Ronnie, clearly smitten with lifeguard C.J. (Kelly Rohrbach), accidentally gets himself caught in a tricky situation after an incident on the beach. 

“He gets his erect penis stuck in a beach chair,” Daddario revealed, laughing while explaining that the scene is one of the reasons she signed on for the project. “I felt that it was pushing the envelope and was just laugh-out-loud funny and ridiculous and I think that was the right tone for a film like this.” 

As for Bass, he’s privileged to join the likes of Ben Stiller and Jason Biggs on the list of actors who “get their dicks stuck in things.” (Yup, he went there.) But in all seriousness, he’s happy to be a part of a movie that pushes the boundaries without being self-serious. 

“I remember reading the script and just being like, ‘This is going to be just such a fun movie to be a part of,’” Bass said. “We had so much fun on set; we had so much fun every scene that I got to shoot with every one of the cast members. It was like a fun day at the beach. It was like summer camp.” 

Camp being the word to remember before seeing “Baywatch” this weekend. 

Watch the full Build Series interview with Alexandra and Jon 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.

Adorable Animated Film Offers Beautiful Story Of Two Boys Falling In Love

A new animated short film is in the works that tells the story of a gay boy falling in love with the most popular boy in school.

“In A Heartbeat” follows Sherwin, an awkward young teen who is unsure of his sexuality. After crossing paths with Jonathan, a classmate, Sherwin’s heart literally pops out of his chest and chases after his new Prince Charming. Sherwin then has to try and stop his heart from revealing its true feelings ― not only to Jonathan, but the entire school.

Slated to be completed and then debut this summer thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $14,000, “In A Heartbeat” is a completely dialogue-free and created by Esteban Bravo and Beth David.

“When we first started working on this film, we knew that we didn’t want it to be preachy,” the pair, both filmmakers at the Ringling College of Art, told HuffPost. “There isn’t even dialogue, so we never have the characters speak to persuade the audience of anything. We simply wanted to show the audience what growing up was like for us through this story about a sweet, red-headed boy who feels just as confused and scared about his feelings as we did. Hopefully, it’ll resonate with those who identify with this character – and for those who don’t, we hope they’ll gain an understanding for people who go through this experience.”

We can’t wait!

— 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.

How ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Villains Were Inspired By Trump

When Donald Trump was elected president last November, the cast and crew of Hulu’s “Handmaid’s Tale” were already hard at work bringing Margaret Atwood’s gut-wrenching 1985 novel to the screen.

Much of the scripts had been written, the characters formed ― and then America voted in a leader who supports the kinds of oppressive, totalitarian policies that seem better suited for fictional Gilead than present-day U.S.

“It was horrible for the world but great for me,” showrunner Bruce Miller told The Hollywood Reporter.

His series was bound to be relevant anyway. (After all, Atwood said she based the story on very real, historical circumstances of women around the world.) But Trump’s election undeniably carried the show’s import to new heights. Since it debuted, audiences have not held back in drawing terrifying parallels between the show’s portrayal of Gilead ― a theocratic regime whose continued existence depends upon its ability to force women to surrender control over their own bodies ― and the divided state of America today

Neither has the cast and creative team behind the series.

“[Joseph Fiennes and I] are the villains,” Yvonne Strahovski, who plays the commander’s wife Serena Joy, explained to THR. “Suddenly Trump is elected, and all this negative behavior comes to light. I start seeing these parallels between [my character’s] actions and what Trump’s doing. It’s in a weird way an inspiration but also a horrid parallel.”

”People were all of a sudden saying the venomous things that they had always thought out loud — things I didn’t think people thought anymore in my little bubble,” Miller added. “It made me change one or two things [in the show], but I’m not going to tell you what they are.”

Of course, in countless other interviews, series star Elisabeth Moss (who plays Offred) and director Reed Morano have reiterated that the story would be effective regardless of Trump’s position at the White House. 

“The whole message that Margaret was sending in the book is that big changes like this don’t happen overnight,” Morano told audiences at 92Y in early May, “they happen very slowly over time, almost so that you don’t know that they’re happening until it’s too late.”

And yet, as Miller makes clear, the election had its effect. “I think that I definitely had personal feelings about [the election],” Moss told HuffPost in April. “All of a sudden I felt like [the story] was much more personal, much more relevant. It wasn’t so crazy. And this whole idea of ‘it couldn’t happen here’ kind of started to fade away. And that’s kind of what everyone else has felt as well.”

The parallels might be tough to stomach, but there’s hope, Samira Wiley (who plays Offred’s friend, Moira) told THR:

One of the things that’s so interesting about this show is the caste system, specifically within the women. It is, I think, a false sense of authority. We have Serena Joy and Offred, who are of two totally different statuses in the society, but how different it would be and how amazing it would be if they could see that banding together could be a revolution? Pitting women against each other is something that also happens in our world today. I hope people have conversations that they wouldn’t be having otherwise.

Miller agrees. In a previous interview with HuffPost, he said he wants the series to encourage people to “appreciate the freedoms that we have, and see little ways that they’re chipped away and what that can lead to.”

“There’s been just an unrelenting assault on […] women’s sovereignty over their own bodies,” he added, “that’s been happening at the state level and the national level, that’s been head-spinning.”

Moss put it best to THR. When asked which women’s right she thought was the most vulnerable in our current political climate, she responded: 

Damn. How much time do you have? The easy one that comes to mind is sort of a blanket: the right to do with your own body what you want to do. Which covers a lot of things, frankly. It doesn’t just cover the right to have a child or not have a child.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=58ffb42de4b0073d3e7a1d0c,591db7d6e4b094cdba51e629,58fb7c79e4b00fa7de14c20c,58ef93ece4b0bb9638e1fcb5,5924d38ae4b0650cc01ff7fb,591b4a1fe4b07d5f6ba6d1b1

— 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 Teen’s Senior Portraits Were Taken In A Taco Bell, And They’re Perfect

Most high school students choose a photo studio or tranquil outdoor setting for their senior portraits. 

Andrew McBurnie chose Taco Bell.

The student from Bourbonnais, Illinois posed for his glamour shots at the table where he sat with his friends throughout high school, he told BuzzFeed. And the images are magazine worthy:

McBurnie had his photographer friend Wesley Taylor set up the shoot, and Taylor says T-Bell was totally cool with it.

“We ordered a taco and a couple drinks at first and then realized we needed way more, so went back and got more tacos and nachos,” Taylor told HuffPost. “Fortunately we were able to polish it all off at the end! Andrew loves his Taco Bell.”

The setting turned out to be the perfect complement to McBurnie’s suit and bowtie.

“I loved combining the fashion magazine aesthetic with the retro vibes of the restaurant ― plus, Andrew’s basically a model,” Taylor said.

McBurnie’s not the only one with memories from chalupa-land: Other high schoolers have taken Taco Bell-themed portraits in years past.

But then again, they didn’t brave nacho cheese while sporting crisp white suit cuffs. Congrats, Andrew!

H/T Buzzfeed

— 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.

Puerto Rican Day Parade’s List Of Sponsors Shrinks As Controversy Over Boricua Nationalist Grows

The list of corporate and local sponsors withdrawing their support of the 2017 Puerto Rican Day Parade continues to grow, with some citing the event’s decision to honor Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera as their reason for backing out.

AT&T, Coca-Cola, JetBlue Airways and the New York Yankees announced Tuesday that they would not participate in the 60th annual parade. The companies and baseball team join Goya Foods, which cited a “business decision,” and several New York City police organizations in parting ways with the annual event. This year’s parade is set to take place on June 11 in Manhattan. 

“While we are saddened and disappointed by certain sponsors pulling out of our Parade, we respect their views and decision to do so,” the National Puerto Rican Day Parade’s board of directors said in a statement Tuesday. “Equally, we respect our Parade’s mission and commitment to inclusiveness, and the responsibility of representing the broadest possible blend of voices that make up the Puerto Rican community.”

Despite publicly pulling out of the parade, Coca-Cola, the Yankees and JetBlue have all vowed to continue their financial support of the scholarships given by the Puerto Rican Day Parade organization. 

“The New York Yankees are not participating in this year’s Puerto Rican Day parade,” the Yankees organization told USA Today on Tuesday. “However, for many years, the Yankees have supported a scholarship program that recognizes students selected by the parade organizers. To best protect the interests of those students, and avoid any undue harm to them, the Yankees will continue to provide financial support for the scholarships, and will give to the students directly.”

In a statement to HuffPost, the parade’s board of directors applauded the sponsors who intended to continue funding the scholarship program and expressed hope that any future companies would follow suit if they chose not to participate in this year’s parade.

While we cannot predict whether other sponsors and/or organizations might choose not to join us on Fifth Avenue this year, we expect they will do so with the same level of responsibility and professionalism as JetBlue and the Yankees,” the statement said. “This community deserves no less.”

The parade is expected to honor López Rivera as its first “National Freedom Hero.” He was a member of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (known by its Spanish initials as FALN) and served more than 35 years in prison until former President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January. 

López Rivera was released last week and received a hero’s welcome at a Chicago rally that recognized him for his controversial actions fighting for Puerto Rico’s independence in the 1970s and 1980s.

The FALN was linked to over 100 bombings in five cities across the United States, including Chicago and New York, during that period. López Rivera was sentenced in 1981 for his involvement with the militant group but was never linked to specific bombings. He was instead convicted on multiple charges that included seditious conspiracy and plotting to overthrow the U.S. government.

On Monday, NYPD Police Commissioner James O’Neill said he would not march in the parade because he refused to “support a man who is a co-founder of an organization that engaged in over 120 bombings.”

The NYPD Hispanic Society and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association also issued statements boycotting the parade. The PBA pointed to the four officers and detectives injured by the FALN attack at Fraunces Tavern in 1974, which killed four people.

“The annual Puerto Rican Day Parade is a magnificent celebration of a proud heritage shared by New Yorkers and police officers alike,” PBA President Patrick J. Lynch said in a statement on their website Thursday. “Honoring a remorseless terrorist who refuses to condemn acts of violence effectively steals the parade from the good and honorable people who are proud of their Puerto Rican heritage.”

That same day, the board of directors doubled downed on their decision to honor López Rivera:

The history of Oscar López Rivera is complicated, some call him a terrorist and others call him a freedom fighter, but Oscar López Rivera, as the New York Times recently wrote, was never charged with carrying out acts of violence. After 35 years in prison, 12 years of which were spent in solitary confinement, President Obama concluded, that at the age of 74, Oscar should be free.   

It has been disappointing and unfortunate to see the progress of this Parade undermined by the circulation of false information, and the targeting of loyal sponsors by people who disagree with the Parade’s decision to recognize the freedom of Oscar López Rivera.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took a similar stance when he announced he’d be marching in the parade during a Tuesday news conference in the Bronx.

“I believe this parade is a very, very important part of the life of our city,” de Blasio said, according to The New York Times. “The parade committee made a choice this year on someone to honor. That does not change the basic nature of the parade. Whether you agree with that choice or not, it’s still the Puerto Rican parade and my point is, I will be there to honor the Puerto Rican people. I intend on marching. It’s as simple as that.”

In 2014, the Puerto Rican Day Parade honored Calle 13 rapper René Pérez without any controversy despite the artist’s vocal anti-imperialist stance. That same year, the parade also launched an awareness and solidarity campaign for the liberation of López Rivera. 

— 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.