The art of cosplaying is such a beautiful thing — and yes, it is an art! While most people stick with simple costumes when dressing as their favorite characters, there are also those who go above and beyond. These are the people who learn how to make their own costumes, spend hours searching for the perfect wig, and teach themselves how to utilize makeup in a way that totally transforms their face into someone else’s. We can’t all be perfect cosplayers, but we can certainly admire the ones who are. Sure, it’s a blast to see them in perfectly posed photos. There are people who legit manage to look like the real character, after all! But another fun element of cosplaying is getting to see characters do some of the silliest stuff that would never happen in their world. Take, for example, Snape (you know, the one from the Harry Potter series) riding a bull. See for yourself in the video below! @matt.cosplay Snape and the Fantastic Beasts #potterhead #snapecosplay #harrypottercosplay #harrypotter #severussnape #snapememes #harrypottermemes ♬ original sound – Rec0rder Mast3r “Is this part of the dark arts class?” someone jokingly asks in reply to the video. Needless to say, Snape is not the type of character who would normally be seen riding a mechanical bull. And that is exactly why cosplayers are such a fantastic part of fandoms! This cosplayer in particular, who simply goes by the name Matt on social media, has turned himself into a number of popular characters. Some of his other transformations include Loki, Jon Snow, and Sweeney Todd. Harry Potter Fans Can’t Get Over This Video of “Snape” Riding a Mechanical Bull “PROFESSOR SNAPE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!” one fan enthusiastically asks in the comment section of this popular video, with another adding, “Did Severus Snape come back to life for this?” A third fan points out, “That was the most majestic fall I’ve ever seen.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post The Unlikely Harry Potter Crossover You Never Knew You Needed appeared first on InspireMore.

The Claremont Institute's David Reaboi thinks he has the answer

"Please keep this family, and the fine folks in our neighboring Marlboro County in your prayers"

'Truth be told, for a lot of these individuals, we are their families'

'The business model of Big Medicine only succeeds when we are sick'

Can you think of any other songwriter that is more universally loved than Billy Joel? The answer is probably not, with maybe one exception. The only other artists in popular music history that attracted the mass appeal that Billy Joel has attracted would be Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and, of course, The Beatles. However, it could be argued that Sinatra and Presley have had limited appeal in the youth culture of the 2000s. Only The Beatles and Billy Joel have sustained a generous mass appeal for their entire careers. Of course, Paul McCartney has had a long, distinctive solo career since the breakup of The The post Top 10 Billy Joel Albums appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Helena Bonham Carter is famous for her roles in The King's Speech, Les Misérables, Alice in Wonderland, Big Fish, Fight Club, and many others. Who would have thought that she had no formal acting training or that she once walked away from an Oscar-nominated role? Read on for more fascinating things you may not know about Helena Bonham Carter. Considering that Helena Bonham Carter has won three... Source

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Meta is coming out as a supporter of age verification, and the proposal the giant is putting forward exposes and sums up many of the points critics have been consistently making. A blog post by Meta VP and Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis proposes to implement age verification at the operating system/app stores level. Although the narrative around child safety and difficulties of parenting “in the digital age” dominates the article, “the meat of it” are the implications that this approach brings with it: namely, it creates a situation where, down the line, people would be forced to link real-world identity to their phone’s operating system (OS). And everything they do using the phone is exposed to that OS. Related: The 2024 Digital ID and Online Age Verification Agenda Davis goes into how the EU (notably via the Digital Services Act) is trying to resolve the problem of age verification, but doesn’t think any existing methods are good enough; instead, new regulation is needed, the Meta exec argues – and that would be the one that “applies to all apps.” It means incorporating “the point of approval” into the OS or app stores. The parents would be notified when their child downloads an app, which would allow them to approve it. (The idea seems to be that if a jurisdiction has laws that prohibit a certain category of minors from using certain apps – it would be the parents’ job to “enforce” that.) It might not sound like a very reliable way to ensure compliance, but it would achieve some goals, in the grand scheme of things, quite separate from what the “think of the children” argument seeks to present as the reason for the age verification push. Meta is trying to lead the way here in introducing “industry standards” – the proposal looks to embed the technology into different operating systems and app stores. When it comes to what a social media company should consider age-appropriate content, Meta is again urging common “standards” that would be observed by everyone. And, some countries already require that parents provide government-issued ID to app stores in order for their children to use a phone and set up accounts. Meta wants the EU to “mandate by a legislative framework that applies across all member states and for all apps teens use.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Meta Pushes for a Digital ID Revolution appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. As President Trump’s second administration is taking shape, his picks for various key positions are expectedly coming under scrutiny, with the choice of the surgeon general nominee causing particular interest. The nominee, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, has in the past defended issues like digital ID, and online age verification, but also even Big Tech’s – specifically Facebook’s – censorship around Covid topics. None of this is sitting well with some Trump supporters, who are now outright calling Nesheiwat “a bad choice.” As recently as in March and July of this year, Nesheiwat appeared on Fox News to call for teens and young children to be banned from social platforms (the contentious question here is rarely the intent, but rather the method, namely using digital ID for age verification). In March, she defended Florida House Bill (HB 3), mentioning the usual accusations that the internet represents a serious threat to young people’s mental health, but also life, in a plethora of ways. Other than endorsing HB 3, which bans minors younger than 14 and seeks parental consent for those under 16 to be able to use social networks, Nesheiwat also called for more “awareness” and involvement by parents – as a way to help manage the “challenges” of enforcing this, and other laws, such as the federal COPPA rule. In July, the doctor linked the issues of mass shootings, what she referred to as “just lunatics,” mental disorders, caused or fueled by substance abuse, and “obsession with violence” among the youth – and managed to wrap the argument up by bringing in social media. “I think social media should be banned to all teenagers, to all young children, because it’s done nothing but harm,” she told Fox News at the time. Insisting on such “solutions” is often a way for governments to pander to the constituents that they at the same time fail to inform about the consequences of online age verification, and those are invasive methods that seriously undermine everyone’s privacy – and security. As for the Covid lockdowns-era, the likely new US surgeon general was once again on Fox, where she is a contributor, to not only laud Facebook’s approach to censorship of “anti-vaccine disinformation” (that targeted RFK Jr., among many others) but to encourage other platforms to act the same way. https://video.reclaimthenet.org/articles/Nesheiwat-meta.mp4 If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Trump’s Surgeon General Pick Supports Social Media Digital ID, Praised Facebook’s Censorship of Vaccine “Misinformation” appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Biden to Media: Heckuva Job, Brownie