Month: November 2021

There are a lot of great advantages that come with working from home. There’s no commute. It’s easier to care for your kids. And you can do your job while sitting in your comfiest pair of sweats.

However, one of the major drawbacks is that your home starts to become more like your office. It’s a lot harder to leave work at the office when you can hop on your computer and start working at any moment. That makes it difficult to completely disconnect from your job when it’s time to relax and spend time with the family.

Portugal took dramatic steps to improve work-life balance in the country on Friday when it approved a new set of laws to address the changing workplace. Under the new laws, employers can face penalties for contacting their employees outside of office hours.

That means you don’t have to respond to emails while you’re making dinner or feel stressed that you’ll have to text your boss while relaxing at a weekend barbecue. There’s also something wonderful about knowing that you won’t be blindsided by a work request while you’re getting some quality R and R.

The new laws also mandate that employers help pay for expenses incurred by remote working, such as higher electricity and internet bills.

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The new laws forbid employers from monitoring employees when they work from home, while allowing parents of young children to work from home without making arrangements in advance.

The laws are limited to companies with 10 employees or more.

“The pandemic has accelerated the need to regulate what needs to be regulated,” Minister of Labour and Social Security Ana Mendes Godinho said, according to Euro News.

Portuguese officials hope the new laws will make the country a more attractive place for remote workers to relocate.

“We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal,” she continued.

In a new law, Portugal just made it illegal for your boss to text you after work.nnMeanwhile, America is the only country in the developed world without paid family leave. Not only can our bosses text us after work, but they can text us to come in on the same day our kid is born.

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2)
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Portugal’s new labor laws make it seem as though the country is far ahead of the labor curve; however, France was focused on work-life balance six years ago. In May 2016, France enacted a new “right to disconnect” rule that says if you’re a company of 50 employees or more, you cannot email an employee after typical work hours.

These new laws were designed to allow workers to distance themselves from the office when they’re off and to allow them to get the full advantage of their time off.

“All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant,” Benoit Hamon of the French National Assembly told the BBC in 2016. “Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash — like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails — they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”

“Look it’s not in my nature to gatekeep this close to the sun but ladies, you have got to be easier on yourselves.”

With his endearing Ted Lasso mustache and Ryan Reynolds dorky charm, Andrew, @andre3wsky on TikTok, is no stranger to gifting the world comical, well-loved videos. One of his latest is a response to a girl who posted a TikTok of herself in sweatpants, declaring to the world that she’s single because she looks “like a goblin cave troll.”

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@andr3wsky #stitch with @savanahnoelll ♬ original sound – Andrew

Sorority girl who slept in? Maybe. But goblin cave troll? That’s a little much.

Unafraid to let his nerd flag fly, Andrew argued that “just throwing on a pair of sweatpants doesn’t suddenly make you a threat to a group of low-level adventures. You have no idea the depths of goblin troll-dom us men inhabit on a daily basis. You are but travelers in a strange and distant land.”

Clearly someone has played a campaign or two of Dungeons and Dragons. But I digress.

Andrew continued: “Look at this woman. She’s doing amazing. Her clothes aren’t evening wear but they’re clean. The other day I used a T-shirt as a rag when I changed my oil. Wore it the next day.” He added, almost proudly, that he didn’t even wash it.

He also noticed how the supposed cave troll’s bed “might as well be the bed of European nobility” since it had a bedframe, sheets, and most luxurious of all, a mattress. I couldn’t believe he failed to mention the two, I repeat, TWO matching lamps on either side of the bed. Sitting on two matching nightstands, no less.

“She’s not sleeping on a pile of clean clothes that she refers to as ‘the nest,'” Andrew continued, sharing that “in undergrad I had four pieces of furniture, if you include ‘the nest.’ The other ones were a television, a PlayStation 3 and a minivan seat I found on the curb when I moved in. People still slept with me.” Viewers found that last line especially hilarious.

One person wrote, “I literally lived in a large cardboard box next to an alley. Rats under the floor constantly. Beautiful women still slept with me.” Um, wow … good for that person.

Many commenters were quick to accuse the woman of fishing for compliments, and where this is maybe (probably) true, the double standard between men and women is still very existent. Comedian Iliza Shlesinger has made entire stand-up routines about it, including a fan favorite bit where she goes into how men and women eat during a date.

In the bit, Iliza states that “society dictates that guys can do whatever they want and girls have to be dainty, so he’s gonna get fries, a burger, half a gazelle. Girls, you get the menu and what are you ordering? A salad.”

This joke was featured in Shlesinger’s Netflix special “War Paint,” which premiered in 2013. And yet here we are eight years later still calling ourselves monsters, in an attempt to gain attention and validation from the outside world. But hey, without insecurity, we wouldn’t have comedy, right?

To the TikTok informants warning Andrew that he might have succumbed to the girl’s fishing for compliments, the eternal optimist says “That’s okay. Compliments are easy and free. If someone wants one, I’m happy to give it (and also I’m an expert fisherman).”

Check out more TikToks from Andrew if you’re looking for a reason to smile today.

If you attend any Veterans Day ceremony in the United States, you’ll likely see many of the same things. Military personnel in uniform. The Pledge of Allegiance recited and/or the National Anthem played—perhaps even by a military band. Speeches celebrating American freedoms and expressing gratitude for the people who defend them. Salutes and patriotism and pomp. Flags, flags and more flags.

What do we rarely see or hear anything about on Veterans Day? Building peace. And frankly, that’s weird.

It’s particularly weird considering where this holiday came from. Originally commemorated as Armistice Day marking the end of World War I, November 11 was a day dedicated to the cause of world peace in addition to honoring veterans who served in the war. Congress’s 1926 resolution establishing the legal holiday read in part [emphasis mine], “…it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.“

Over the decades, it seems the focus of the holiday has shifted away from “exercises designed to perpetuate peace,” toward exercises designed to glorify our armed forces. We don’t talk about building peace on Veterans Day. We use militaristic language to talk about “defending our freedoms,” painting the whole picture with a patriotic brush that tugs our red-white-and-blue heartstrings.

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It’s additionally weird to see such a focus when I think about some of the combat veterans I’ve known. The family member who refused to talk about his time in Korea. The friend who flinched at fireworks and still couldn’t stand the sound of helicopters decades after serving in Vietnam. The friend, a few years younger than me, who shut himself in a closet and shot himself in the head after multiple tours of duty in Iraq.

Their sacrifices were real and should be acknowledged. But so should the reality of why they were called to make those sacrifices. Were those wars actually fought to defend American freedoms? Are the sacrifices of our veterans—with their mental health, with their families, with their lives in some cases—always worth it?

We don’t dare say no. To some, it might seem disrespectful—downright blasphemous, perhaps—to even ask the questions. But we owe it to the veterans we honor to consciously weigh the cost of war—and conversely, promote the cause of peace—in our observances of this holiday.

That’s the message Veterans for Peace has for all of us. Founded in 1985, Veterans for Peace is a global organization of military veterans and allies with dozens of chapters and five stated goals: To increase public awareness of the causes and costs of war, to restrain governments from intervening in the internal affairs of other nations, to end the arms race and eliminate nuclear weapons, to seek justice for veterans and victims of war, and to abolish war as an instrument of national policy.

These veterans also want to reclaim Armistice Day.

“Veterans For Peace has taken the lead in lifting up the original intention of November 11th—as a day for peace,” states the organization’s website. “As veterans we know that a day that celebrates peace, not war, is the best way to honor the sacrifices of veterans. We want generations after us to never know the destruction war has wrought on people and the earth.”

The call of Veterans for Peace is reminiscent of five-star general President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s statements about war: “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity,” he said in 1946. And in 1960, he said in the opening session of the White House Conference on Children and Youth, “In this hope, among the things we teach to the young are such truths as the transcendent value of the individual and the dignity of all people, the futility and stupidity of war, its destructiveness of life and its degradation of human values.”

Our veterans deserve to be honored. They also deserve to have their experiences recognized as the genuine tragedies that they are, not glossed over or dressed up for the sake of national pride and patriotism.

Let’s ask ourselves: Are our young people getting the message that war is stupid and futile at the same time they are taught to place their hands on their hearts and pay respect to our veterans? Are we explaining to young people how high the suicide rate is among military personnel—and why—when we take them to military parades? Do we share with them, as they witness the pageantry surrounding this holiday, that Veterans Day isn’t meant to be a badge of glory pinned to our nation’s chest, but rather an acknowledgment of a tragic truth—that humanity has not yet learned that war isn’t worth its cost?

As we observe Veterans Day with all the usual ceremonial trappings, let’s focus on finding ways to build peace between all peoples and nations as well. The best way to truly honor our veterans is not merely to thank them for their service and then keep sending them into combat zones, but to actively strive toward a future that doesn’t need them anymore.

In perhaps the most universally agreed-upon choice it’s ever made, People magazine has named Paul Rudd as 2021’s Sexiest Man Alive.

I mean, duh.

Rudd, with his boyish grin and flawless skin, is certainly cute. But when you add in his well-established talent and extreme likability, the miraculously immortal 52-year-old becomes beloved. He’s got it all—the eyes, the hair, the teeth, the bod, as well as the acting chops, the humor, the humility and the genuine nice-guy-ness that makes a man sexy in the eyes of most, if not all, of us.

Nothing exemplifies why Rudd was named Sexiest Man Alive more than his reaction to it.

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Paul Rudd is PEOPLE’s 2021 #SexiestManAlive! https://peoplem.ag/3BVxcicu00a0pic.twitter.com/PPxEaZo6Ty

— People (@people)
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Check out what he told People:

“I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I’d be picked for this, they would say, ‘What?’ This is not false humility. There are so many people that should get this before me.”

Humility = sexy.

“When I think about myself, I think of myself as a husband and a father,” he said. “Like I’m that. I just hang out with my family when I’m not working. That’s what I kind of like the most.” (Rudd has been married to his wife Julie for 18 years and they have two kids, Jack, 17, and Darby, 12.)

Family man = super sexy.

“She was stupefied,” Rudd said about wife’s reaction to the news. “But you know she was very sweet about it. After some giggling and shock, she said ‘Oh, they got it right.’ And that was very sweet. She was probably not telling the truth, but what’s she going to say?”

Sweet husband = oh so sexy.

After saying his friends were going to give him “so much grief” for the title, he added:

“As they should. I would. I mean I’m going to lean into it hard. I’m going to own this. I’m not going to try to be like ‘Oh, I’m so modest.’ I’m getting business cards made. But all of my friends will destroy me and I expect them to. And that’s why they’re my friends.”

True friendship = Sexy sexy sexy.

Finally, on how his life will change after the title:

“I’m hoping now that I’ll finally be invited to some of those sexy dinners with Clooney and Pitt and B. Jordan. And I figure I’ll be on a lot more yachts. I’m excited to expand my yachting life. And I’ll probably try to get better at brooding in really soft light. I like to ponder. I think this is going to help me become more inward and mysterious. And I’m looking forward to that.”

That signature sassy sarcasm that somehow makes him sound self-deprecating = SO DARN SEXY.

He said he had to read the email twice when he received the news, and his first reaction was “Oooh, get ready for outrage.”

Paul Rudd on becoming People magazineu2019s Sexiest Man Alive: u201cI thought u2018ooh, get ready for outrage.u2019u201dpic.twitter.com/OmWDVhlKG4

— The Recount (@therecount)
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But of course, there is no outrage because Paul Rudd is a perfect choice. He is *just* unconventionally sexy enough to keep the title interesting, but also totally, 100%, undeniably sexy. Nailed it, People.

And just to add one more fun bit to the mix, watch Stephen Colbert put Paul Rudd through a rigorous audition process to see if he was worthy of being named Sexiest Man Alive:

Which, of course, he is. In both mind and body, as Colbert so hilariously demonstrates:

Thank you, People, for finally acknowledging the obvious. And thanks for the #crushforlife hashtag that speaks for all of us.

Travis Scott continues to cancel performances in the wake of last week’s Astroworld Festival disaster, this time shutting down a planned “$5.5 million one-off show” in Saudi Arabia on November 19, according to Variety and Complex. Scott previously canceled his performance at Day N Vegas this weekend; the festival replaced him with Post Malone.

Scott’s come under scrutiny as a result of the incident at Astroworld, in which 300 people were injured and eight were killed as the crowd surged forward, crushing and trampling festival-goers. Scott reportedly continued performing for nearly 40 minutes after things had gotten out of hand as festival organizers struggled to shut down the event once it was clear that a “mass casualty event” had taken place, and both Scott and the show’s producers/promoters Live Nation and ScoreMore have received a staggering number of lawsuits — a number that is expected to continue rising as more details of the event come out.

Among those that were injured were a nine-year-old who was trampled after his father, who was carrying him, passed out. The boy was found hours later in a hospital, admitted as a John Doe, and put into an induced coma; the family is among those suing Travis Scott. A 22-year-old college student was also legally declared brain dead earlier today, which would bring the total number of deaths to nine should her family remove her from life support.

In case it wasn’t fully clear that Dave Chappelle has become a hero figure to the right thanks to his controversial new special, The Closer, and the backlash that followed, he’s now being praised by gun-slinging Arizona Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. The rootin’ tootin’ representative, who recently showed up to an event wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” dress, fired off a single word tweet supporting Chappelle’s love of being canceled.

“Boss,” Boebert wrote while linking a Breitbart article from earlier in the month.

The article referred to Chappelle’s recent performance in San Francisco where he, once again, proudly proclaimed how much he loves being canceled: “It is a huge relief. It’s like getting Capone on tax evasion.” However, Chappelle’s argument that he has been ‘canceled’ seems dubious considering he made the remarks at a sold-out venue in front of 19,000 people.

As for the latest member of Chappelle’s fan club, Boebert is currently in hot water after being linked to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building, which the Arizona congresswoman has denied, but not very convincingly. Boebert also has been criticizing the Democratic Party’s efforts to federally mandate parental leave. According to Boebert, she once gave birth in her truck because, “Ain’t nobody got time for two and a half months of maternity leave. We have a world to save here.”

Enjoy your new supporter, Dave, and maybe don’t eat at her restaurant. Trust us.

(Via Lauren Boebert on Twitter)

There’s no shortage of heartbreak, outrage, and theories surrounding the horrific shooting that took place October 21 on the set of Alec Baldwin’s upcoming western Rust. Since that fateful day and the passing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the studio behind Rust has come under fire for improper gun safety protocols on set, with both the film’s assistant director, David Halls, and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed admitting to some negligence and a veteran prop master stating he actually passed on working on the film due to “massive red flags.” However, in light of these various claims and the conspiracy theories that have subsequently appeared, Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies took to Good Morning America to remind people it is vital to separate negligence from “sabotage,” Deadline reports.

“I know that some defense attorneys have come up with conspiracy theories and have used the word ‘sabotage.’ We do not have any proof .. It’s probably more important to focus on what led up to the shooting, because the moment of the shooting we know that at least Mr. Baldwin had no idea that the gun was loaded,” she said. “It’s more, how did that gun get loaded? What levels of failure happened, and were those levels of failure criminal?”

When questioned directly on whether or not she believed there could be an element of sabotage to the incident, Carmack-Altwies told reporters “no,” and added that until she is given additional information, these speculations don’t “play into the decision-making process.” Instead of humoring theories, Carmack-Altwies said it’s more important to point out the concerning “levels of failure” on the set of Rust. While the attorney declined to state how many live rounds were tucked away on the film’s set, Carmack-Altwies implied there were many and that solving the question of how they came to be is the case’s most pressing issue.

Carmack-Altwies also declined to answer who reportedly loaded the gun, but confirmed they now know who did. While the attorney for David Halls denied the assistant director handed the gun to Baldwin during the scene rehearsal, but armorer Gutierrez-Reed said it “does seem to be the case” that he did.

Typically taking place in the heart of the spring season, Downtown Boise’s Treefort Festival moved to September in 2021 for obvious reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of festivals to veer from tradition in order to maintain their longevity and the independently-operated Treefort was among them, with acts like Japanese Breakfast, The Marias and Boise faithfuls Built To Spill helping to maintain the energy the festival has built across the past decade. But now for 2022, Treefort Fest is back for it’s 10th anniversary on for March 23rd – 27th, and a killer first wave of the lineup was announced today.

Headliners include Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth fame, the newest iteration of the legendary John Dwyer’s fiery garage rock in Osees, and the dandy modern soul of Durand Jones & The Indications. Other highlights include the legacy indie of Guided By Voices, retro-rockers Shannon & The Clams, London jazz saxophonist Nubya Garcia, Caroline Rose’s electric indie pop, the post metal of Deafheaven, ambient producer William Basinski, “Femmehouse” DJ/producer LP Giobbi, Sinkane’s globally-minded indie and a lot more.

There’s real diversity in the Treefort lineup every year, pulling in a range of styles across Downtown Boise’s many venues. In the past Uproxx has even quested for hip-hop while there and 2022’s rap slate already includes Little Rock’s Kari Faux, Chattanooga’s bbymutha, Richmond, VA’s Fly Anakin, Bengali-American from Queens Anik Khan and Austin’s Magna Carda. Check out the full lineup here.

Treefort Festival goes from 3/23-3/27 and passes are now on sale here.

There’s a hidden quality about Australian indie-rocker Courtney Barnett’s rise over the last several years and that hidden quality is empathy. You can hear it in her lyrics and you can certainly see it in the merchandise she sells. If you had to describe her merch aesthetic, it would be easy to say, “Oh, that’s just pure Courtney Barnett.” Like her album covers, there is a minimalist vibe to what she offers us to plaster on ourselves to show our support as a true Courtney Barnett fan. T-shirts full of splashy colors or anything really that’s going to be an overt life statement about your qualities as a human being — it’s not her thing. Instead, you can get a drawing of a brain in a mixing cup; a pot plant looking like it may need some water; a tomato can; or a mother duckie uttering the line from her excellent 2018 album Tell Me How You Really Feel, “I’m not your mother, I’m not your b*tch.”

Looking at these little drawings that adorn her shirts…there’s something very raw about them, something that’s simplistic, crude, yet humble. And she’ll tell you drawing isn’t really isn’t her forte.

“I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not my true talent,” Barnett says. “I enjoy it and it’s another level of expressing ideas… expressing little pockets of life and trying to recreate moments. But for the most part it’s a fun exercise. I have a few objects in my life, like chairs, or pot plants, and [I’m] drawing all the different ones that come into my life. It’s for no purpose really, but an exercise to keep the hand busy and the brain flickering.”

Barnett has been drawing all her life, taking art classes as a kid; nowadays, she finds herself doodling at her desk at home, or when she’s in motion — traveling seems to inspire creativity in her. There’s a pleasure in getting lost in the moments doing, where the self-editor in all of us goes out the window, and the free-form flowing part of our brain takes over and allows creation to happen. These moments exist for Barnett in the act of writing songs, but also in the act of these simplistic drawings that adorn her merch.

“When I stop thinking about what I’m doing and stop thinking about the purpose of the piece, or the outcome of the piece, or if it’s good or bad — if I stop thinking about that and just get carried away in the moment, time can pass very easily,” she says. “The push and pull is a bit of a battle. When I find that moment in between all of the thoughts, that’s when it feels most magical. On one hand, you want to create something for the purpose of releasing it, or there’s some stress behind something like art for a t-shirt, and there’s a deadline to print it. It adds this other element of stress… but also it recreates the purpose of the art in the first place. It’s a constant lesson to learn how to balance it.”

On her new album Things Take Time, Take Time, this push and pull exerts itself in the lyrics, the song titles, and the music itself. On the slow, jangly single “Rae Street,” Barnett captures a mundane day, with scenes of a mother yelling at her kid, neighbors doing neighbor things like walking dogs and riding bikes, yet at the end, the song’s lyrics flip to become a rallying cry for someone who’s clearly struggling. On the punchy “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight,” Barnett’s narrator is caught in mental relationship games that are mostly confessional, a bit paranoid, and certainly a snapshot in time of how our brains accelerate tiny things into way bigger things. The romantic drive of “Before You Gotta Go” does this too — it’s a song about a fight and a desire for reconciliation.

These themes of time and space run deep in Barnett’s work, where the minutia can be used for inspiration around bigger ideas we are all grappling with day in, day out. And this notion of taking simple moments and expanding them — it’s creating a unity around how Barnett approaches her whole vibe, in everything she does. The simplistic drawings adorning her merch, on the surface, look like just that: simplistic drawings sketched out, likely taking very little time. But there’s more to them than that — and it’s a holistic representation of who Barnett sees herself as. That is, at least from an artistic point-of-view.

“Now, it feels like an extension of the music,” she says. “It feels like a small, visual element that connects to the music. I was thinking of how Joni Mitchell has painted a bunch of self-portraits of her on her album covers. I love that. It’s another peek into the artist, into the process. Same with song titles. They are another layer of the story. It all adds up — the song title could be the recurring chorus or whatever, but when it’s something outside, or something abstract… it paints a bigger picture. They’re all small elements that add up to the bigger picture.”

Which brings us back to empathy. Barnett’s simple drawings on her t-shirts have more of a life — just like the mundane conversations or observations in her songs have more of a life — if we look for it. Barnett’s become a master at blurring the realities of beauty around the little things. It’s a grand vision of empathy.

“I go through moments when I say I wished I’d documented this time better, but there’s a world where you can live too much in the past… I don’t think that’s healthy,” she says. “The flipside of that is looking back at embarrassing stuff or bad art or bad writing. It’s kinda nice to be able to reflect on that as well. You can see your own personal growth as well. You can be like ‘Oh I was really struggling then.’ It creates this empathetic feeling… there’s something about it because you feel so far removed from that person. It’s an interesting way to look at the human, psychological journey.”

Leon Edwards is suddenly without an opponent for his highly-anticipated showdown with Jorge Masvidal after the latter suffered an undisclosed injury, per ESPN.

The welterweight showdown was slated to feature on the card headlined by Charles Oliveira defending his lightweight belt against Dustin Poirier. As of now, there’s been no word on whether Edwards will remain on the Dec. 11 card.

At 19-3, Edwards is on a nine-fight winning streak, yet he’s been unable to earn his first shot at UFC gold. His last time out in the Octagon, Edwards earned a decision victory over Nate Diaz, a win many assumed would be enough to give him No. 1 contender status. After Kamaru Usman’s second victory over Colby Covington at UFC 268, there’s no clear path forward for the welterweight king.

With Edwards’ appearance now in jeopardy, a fellow rising welterweight has thrown his name into the ring: Khamzat Chimaev.

Chimaev is unbeaten in 10 professional appearances, with his last three wins coming in the first round via knockout, TKO and submission just 11 days ago.

For Masvidal, despite coming off back-to-back losses against Usman, he’s reach McGregor and Diaz status: his wins and losses no longer matter. Masvidal is a draw no matter who he fights. With that said, there’s no guarantee an Edwards tilt gets rescheduled with Covington calling out “Gamebred” following his own loss to Usman.