Bedugul Coffee: How indie bookstores can win in the age of Amazon

The Huffington Post

This week we're talking about the story behind Austria's "Mona Lisa," how indie bookstores can win in the age of Amazon, artists exploring the aging human body, the skater girls of Kabul and the man who might become Men's Health's first openly transgender cover model.

The Haunting Story Behind One Of Gustav Klimt's Most Famous Paintings

"Maria Altmann was in her 80s when she entered into a legal battle with the Austrian government in order to reclaim Gustav Klimt's 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I' and other Nazi-plundered Klimt paintings. The artwork had been stolen from her family's home after she escaped from Austria as a Jewish refugee of the Holocaust during World War II. Never certain she would even live to see a verdict, Altmann's fight wasn't about money or revenge. According to her, she simply wanted to preserve the truth of what had happened to her family." (Read more here)

How Indie Bookstores Can Win In The Age Of Amazon

"The Shop Around the Corner is making a surprise comeback. Indie bookstores have been resurgent in recent years, filling the void of brick-and-mortar shopping left by closing big-box bookstores. How are these bookshops succeeding where Borders buckled?... They're turning book-shopping into an opportunity to reconnect as communities, and it turns out that's something readers still want." (Read more here)

Aydian Dowling Could Make History As The First Openly Transgender Men's Health Cover Model

"Men's Health magazine might put an openly transgender man on the cover for the very first time. The health-focused magazine is holding its annual 'Ultimate Guy' contest where fans vote on the individual that they think 'possesses all of the qualities that make up today's well rounded, active, health conscious and thoughtful guy.' While the winner for the November issue is ultimately determined by the judges, transgender model Aydian Dowling is currently in the lead with more than four times the amount of votes as the second place-holder." (Read more here)

Photographer Turns Beirut Into A Minimalist Candyland

"Matt Crump is an expert at erasing history. Using Photoshop, the Texas-based photographer edits the world around him into neon planes that are among Instagram's most popular images. His latest work testifies to the appeal of the edited world. Titled #minimalBeirut, the series was commissioned by Plastik Magazine ahead of Beirut Design Week, where it will be shown to the Lebanese public this June." (Read more here)

8 Artists Who Explore The Beauty Of The Aging Body

"Artists obsessed with the human form have long illuminated the nuanced process of growing older, its complex effects on the body and on the soul. The following icons, through painting, drawing and photography, explore the process of aging while challenging the dominant, negative perception of it. From series of confrontational nude self-portraits to a photographic documentation of aging drag queens, the following images capture the many particular joys, pains, fears and thrills of the aging process." (Read more here)

Meet The Inspirational, Adorable And Utterly Badass Skater Girls Of Kabul

"They skate. They fall. They jump right back up again. These are skater girls of Kabul, ages five through 25, who partake in one of the most exhilarating, and often dangerous, sports in the world -- in a country where they're not allowed on bicycles. These young women learned their skills at Skateistan, a school run by a German non-profit that teaches skateboarding to children in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa, 40 percent of whom are young women." (Read more here)

7 Teen Movies Based On Shakespeare That Would Make Him Roll Over In His Grave

"Here's what we do know: This is the 399th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and his outsize importance to Western culture looms as large as ever. Christopher Marlowe would be lime-green with envy over the popularity of his one-time rival's plays; there are entire theater troupes devoted to performing Shakespeare, and the finest actors jockey to commit their portrayals of Hamlet and Lady Macbeth to film. Oh, and then there are the remixes." (Read more here)

Celebrate Bold Women Everywhere With These Brilliantly Macabre Stories

"[Amelia] Gray is of a recent set of fiction writers who laudably play with our gendered notions of violence. Lindsay Hunter, author of Ugly Girls, and Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me, both pen books about tough, female outlaws à la Lisbeth Salander, and Gray successfully does the same. In 'House Heart,' a couple traps a young woman in the ductwork of their house. They feed her and listen to her movements as a twisted kind of foreplay. In 'Western Passage,' an older woman rescues a younger woman from the predatory gaze of a man, only to further frighten the girl herself." (Read more here)