It's that time of year when the weather gets a bit cooler and you've got to pull out your winter gear--big coat, gloves, hat and scarf--there's nothing out of the ordinary about that. But one artist is raising eyebrows with his choice of 'scarves' that aren't wool or even silk, they're white women.

Nate Hill, a New York-based performance artist, is grabbing a lot of attention with his latest work entitled "Trophy Scarves" in which the 36-year-old travels to the homes of different white women and drapes them over his shoulders. Some women are scantily clad and others completely naked.

According to the official website, Hill describes the project in one succinct sentence:

"I wear white women for status and power."

Take a quick glance at the "Trophy Scarves" Instagram page and you'll see Hill dressed in a tuxedo with various women, wearing barely anything, over his shoulders.

During an interview with Vice, Hill said the project is commenting on people's ideas of race and status.

"Well, there are people who see certain races as status symbols, and someone had to comment on that," he said. "I wanted to find another way to come at that. I guess it’s the same kind of satirical, tongue-in-cheek approach that I like to take with things. I like to talk about something serious but do it in a lighter, kind of a goofy way. "

Hill has a history of grabbing attention with his comments on race. In November 2011, he caused a stir on the Harlem streets when he donned whiteface and posed as "The White Ambassador."

Following her "stop acting like wh*res" Twitter rant, the Parks & Recreation star has penned an essay for Glamour detailing her frustrations with the "pornification of pop" these days, singling out the likes of Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj for saturating mainstream music with graphic sexual imagery.

"This fall I was hanging out with my sisters, catching up on pop-culture stuff. We watched some music videos, looked at a few Instagram accounts, and checked out blogs. And amid the usual duck-lipped selfies and staged paparazzi photos, a theme emerged: Stripper poles, G-strings, boobs, and a lot of tongue action were all now normal accessories for mainstream pop stars," she writes. "That was at the end of October, a month that had already brought us the Miley Cyrus cross-continental twerk-a-thon and Nicki Minaj's Halloween pasties."

"With the addition of Rihanna writhing on a pole in her 'Pour It Up' video, and Lady Gaga's butt-crack cover art for the song that goes 'Do what you want with my body,' I was just done. I'd had enough."
Adding that she's "not a prude" and "grew up on a healthy balance of sexuality in pop stars," Jones explains that sexy doesn't mean "having to take an ultrasound tour of some pop star's privates."

"Yes, we had Madonna testing the boundaries of appropriateness, but then we also had Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Cyndi Lauper, women who played with sexuality but didn't make it their calling card," she continues. "Twenty years later, all the images seem homogenous. Every star interprets "sexy" the same way: lots of skin, lots of licking of teeth, lots of bending over. I find this oddly...boring."

The actress also explains her use of the word "wh*re" in her previous rant, writing, "The fact that I was accused of 'slut-shaming,' being anti-woman, and judging women's sex lives crushed me. I consider myself a feminist. I would never point a finger at a woman for her actual sexual behavior, and I think all women have the right to express their desires. But I will look at women with influence—millionaire women who use their 'sexiness' to make money—and ask some questions. There is a difference, a key one, between 'shaming' and 'holding someone accountable.'"

Jen Arnold, the star of TLC's "The Little Couple," has revealed she is battling a rare form of cancer.

"I have recently been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and am currently undergoing treatment, including surgery and chemotherapy," Arnold, 39, said in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post. "I am very fortunate as the prognosis is good. While there is never a good time to get news like this, getting it just as we are building our new family is tough in many ways. ... But being surrounded by the love of my husband and our two beautiful children is actually in many ways giving me the strength to fight it even stronger."

The neonatologist and her husband, Bill Klein, have had their lives documented on TLC since the show premiered in 2009. The series has followed them living with skeletal dysplasia, settling down in Texas and trying to have a child. They now have two adopted children: Will, 3, and Zoey, 2.

TLC cameras will also capture Arnold's fight against cancer, according to People.

In October, Klein and Arnold told Glamour they would drop the series if it ever got "too cumbersome," but so far they have been able to manage their schedules. They've also gotten great joys out of doing the show, particularly when they've been able to share personal struggles with viewers.

"The biggest joy from the show is those moments where somebody sends a message or tells us that the show has helped them in some personal way, whether it’s going through the physical challenges or the medical challenges of being little people or the fertility changes and adoption challenges of starting a family," she said. "They share their own personal challenges and the fact that watching the show helps them keep moving forward, honestly that’s what makes the show worthwhile. It’s a really cool thing and makes me feel happy and proud when that happens."

In fact, she’s sending out positive thoughts to those who’ve openly criticized her Sound of Music Live! performance.

“Plain and simple: Mean people need Jesus,” she wrote on Twitter. “They will be in my prayers tonight…”

She even cited a Bible verse for the naysayers to study -- Peter 2:1-25, to be exact, which reads: “So rid yourselves of all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.”

Underwood very well may be directing those prayers to 55-year-old actress Kym Karath, who played Gretl von Trapp in the much-beloved 1965 movie musical, who wasn’t quite taken with the country pop star in the lead role of Maria von Trapp in NBC’s three-hour live performance Dec. 5.

And she didn’t hold back her disappointment.

“Mystified & disappointed so far by SOM special. So far only happy with Stephen Moyer,” tweeted Karath, who watched the special alongside her former on-screen siblings Charmian Carr (Liesl von Trapp) and Angela Cartwright (Brigitta von Trapp.)

(Karath with Chariman Carr. Photo: Twitter)

“Love Carrie Underwood but this role is just not right for her,” she said, adding that some scenes were “painful to watch.” “She is lovely her voice is beautiful but acting is wrong.”

But she tried to soften the blow: “To be clear I love Carrie Underwood. Just not as Maria,” Karath continued. “She was brave to take it on. And this doesn't lessen my respect for her talent.”

Even the TV critics’ reviews weren’t as scathing, most praising her unbelievable vocal talents, yet pointing out her acting chops just weren’t quite there.

But like a true performer, the only review that mattered to the 30-year-old superstar was her own:

What is "attractiveness"? Artist Gracie Hagen devised one way of addressing the question. In an effort to explore distance between media-propagated imagery -- the ones that star photoshopped men and women with impossibly pristine bodies -- and the genuine reality of our own flesh, she embarked on a project titled "Illusions of the Body."

Recruiting mostly women and a few men of various sizes and shapes, Hagen photographed her models in two separate poses. In the first frame, her subjects stand in conventionally sexy positions, usually accentuating the curves they themselves deem acceptable while covering up the "unattractive" sections they wish to hide. In the second frame, the same models were asked to strike an unflattering pose; to let their bodies fall into postures we don't usually see in the glossy pages of magazines, regardless of how unsexy it might seem.

"'Illusions of the Body' was made to tackle the supposed norms of what we think our bodies are supposed to look like," Hagen pointed out in an email exchange with The Huffington Post. "Most of us realize that the media displays only the prettiest photos of people, yet we compare ourselves to those images. We never get to see those photos juxtaposed against a picture of that same person looking unflattering."

The result of Hagen's experiment is a striking collection of visual contradictions. The male and female bodies on display go from one extreme to another, showing just how malleable our forms can be, while challenging the rigid beauty ideals we've constructed at the same time.

"The media shows us the most attractive photos of people," Hagen explained. "Don't compare yourselves to those images. They aren't realistic. Everyone is a different shape and size. There is no 'normal.' Celebrate your shapes, sizes and the odd contortions your body can get itself into. The human body is a weird and beautiful thing."

Beyonce posted a series of bikini shots from her recent holiday in Jamaica and brought some heat to this chilly December.

The superstar songstress recently went away with her family for some R&R on the Caribbean island. She posted snapshots of the picturesque scenery, the local cuisine and their paddle-boarding adventures. She also posted photos of herself in some bikinis.
In the photos, Beyonce can be seen wearing a purple printed bikini with high-waisted bottoms while lounging on the beach. In others, she rocks a metallic one-shouldered two-piece while she climbs a tree.

The 32-year-old stayed at the Trident Port Antonio Hotel, a luxury property featuring oceanfront villas, according to the Jamaica Observer. She was also spotted checking out the recording studios in Geejam.

It was just announced that she and husband Jay Z will be going vegan for 22 days. The rapper explained it's a spiritual and physical challenge.

He was remembered as a freedom fighter, a political prisoner, a moral icon impervious to hate, and a reconciler of seemingly irreconcilable camps. He was recalled as the crucial figure in the struggle that ended apartheid in South Africa, and as the president who then put aside retribution in favor of building a lasting democracy.

But as the world mourned the death of Nelson Mandela, who died at his home in Johannesburg on Thursday night, words of loss resonated less as historical underscoring than as a collective yearning for a future in which his signature virtues would persevere: Through a human life as complex and vulnerable to contradiction as any other, Mandela consistently evinced an unwavering commitment to improving his nation and the state of human society.

In Britain, David Cameron praised Mandela as "a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero," adding that "a great light has gone out in the world." Former prime minister Tony Blair celebrated Mandela as a transformational figure whose impacts on the events of his era went beyond his own nation.

"He came to represent something that was much more than just about the resolution of the issues of apartheid and of South Africa," Blair said. "He came to represent something quite inspirational for the future of the world and for peace and reconciliation in the 21st century."

In Washington, President Barack Obama called Mandela "one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with," adding: "He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages."

Obama spoke about Mandela's importance in strikingly personal terms, a recognition of the historical distinction they share as the first black men elected to their nation's highest offices.

"I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela's life," Obama said. "I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example set by Nelson Mandela."

Those words effectively closed the book on previous American conceptions of Mandela who, until 2008, remained on the nation's terrorist watch list given his support for armed resistance.

In a sign that this sort of sentiment has yet to be dispatched to history, Malala Yousafzai, the teenage Pakastani activist who has earned global acclaim for championing the cause of girls' education, issued a statement in which she called Mandela "my leader."

"He belongs to the whole world because he is an icon of equality, freedom and love, the values we need all the time everywhere," Malala said. "His long, long struggle is a great demonstration of humanity."

In Italy, Minister of Integration Cecile Kyenge -- the first black woman to serve at that level of Italian government -- also described Mandela as a historical current whose force lives on even after his death.

"He leaves the whole world a message of civil society that has accompanied us throughout the twentieth century and that will accompany future generations for centuries to come," Kyenge said. "The man himself has passed away but he left his light on, a flame that we will continue to feed in conveying his being, his teachings."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Mandela "a giant of history," whose focus on peaceful change over historical revenge made him a "statesman with a message that is valid in every country and at every time."

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed sorrow for the loss of "a beacon of hope for the future," while emphasizing how Mandela had focused on bridging the racial chasm dividing his country in the years after apartheid.

"Not only was former President Mandela a tireless fighter, he was also a promoter of reconciliation," Abe said. "Indeed, after bringing about the abolition of apartheid at the end of long years of suffering, he devoted himself to the pursuit of national unity rather than seeking vengeance."

Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino expressed admiration for Mandela's willingness to acknowledge the role of F.W. de Klerk, the last South African president under apartheid, in working to eradicate the racist system. "It was not an easy thing to say, and to say it in those years to his people," Bonino said. "Yet Mandela had the intellectual honesty to proclaim it and to start his policy of reconciliation."

After the Victoria’s Secret show last month, Jessica Hart was asked whether Taylor Swift had what it takes to be a VS model. The answer was an emphatic “no” in which she explained.

“I think, you know what, god bless her heart. I think she’s great,” she said. “But, I don’t know, to me, she didn’t fit. I don’t know if I should say that. I think what you find is that for a lot of us, we’ve been working for 14, 15 years; what it takes to make it here comes from experience and confidence and knowing how to be confident with yourself. I think it comes with age. It’s definitely the benchmark of all jobs.”

Today, rumors started floating around that Victoria’s Secret ripped off Hart’s wings over the comment and cast her out of Victoria’s Secret heaven.

Turns out this simply wasn’t true. VS president of marketing Ed Razek tells Confidenti@l that her wings are safe from being clipped.

    “There is no truth to the rumors that Jessica Hart has been fired or that she will no longer work with the brand,” said Ed Razek, President and Chief Marketing Officer of VS. “As you will see, she was a great part of our show and we look forward to continuing to work with her. As previously reported, we at Victoria’s Secret and all those involved, including Jessica Hart, were thrilled to have Taylor be a part of the show. We look forward to sharing her performances next week during the television special.”

Of course Hart won’t be fired. You can’t argue with the truth. What you can do is write a whiny single about a girl telling you you can never be a model and have it hit #1 on the Billboard charts.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, visiting China as a dispute over a new Chinese air defence zone rattles nerves around the region, said on Wednesday that relations between Washington and Beijing had to be based on trust.

Beijing’s decision to declare an air defence identification zone in an area that includes disputed islands has triggered protests from the United States, Japan and South Korea and dominated Biden’s talks in Tokyo on Tuesday.


The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals Japan and China.

Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping he believed Xi was a candid and constructive person.

“In developing this new relationship, both qualities are sorely needed,” Biden said during a meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

“Candor generates trust. Trust is the basis on which real change, constructive change, is made.”

Xi said the international situation and regional landscape were “undergoing profound and complex changes”.

“Regional issues keep cropping up and there are more pronounced global challenges such as climate change and energy security. The world is not tranquil,” he added.

Neither made any mention of the air defence zone in remarks before reporters. Biden flies to Seoul on Thursday.

As Biden arrived, the official English-language China Daily said in a strongly worded editorial that he “should not expect any substantial headway if he comes simply to repeat his government’s previous erroneous and one-sided remarks”.

“If the U.S. is truly committed to lowering tensions in the region, it must first stop acquiescing to Tokyo’s dangerous brinkmanship. It must stop emboldening belligerent Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to constantly push the envelope of Japan’s encroachments and provocations.”

Under the zone’s rules, all aircraft have to report flight plans to Chinese authorities, maintain radio contact and reply promptly to identification inquiries.

U.S., Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have breached the zone without informing Beijing since it was announced on Nov. 23.