Category: News

On Sunday, Americans awoke to both good and bad news. The good: They’d gotten an extra hour of sleep. (Unless they used that additional time to party more than they should have.) The bad: It was going to get dark an hour earlier. Yes, Daylight Savings Time — when the nation’s clocks are collectively adjusted so as to extend daytime hours a little further into the evening, usually ranging from mid-March to either late October or early November — had come to an end, to the consternation of, among other, Jimmy Kimmel. Now the days would be “shorter” and seasonal affective disorder was about to rear its ugly head.

It’s usually around this time that people who love the Daylight Savings stretch beg lawmakers to make it permanent. As it happens, a group of legislators have been trying. They’re a motley crew of politicians who are usually at loggerheads. And wouldn’t you know they’re led by no less than Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio.

A new piece by Politico examines the passionate voices on either side of the debate. One is for making Daylight Savings Time permanent, and is called #LocktheClock. The other — far more villainous, of course — is about continuing to cruelly adjust the clocks two times a year, called Save Standard Time. Only the #LocktheClock team has the support of one of the most dunkable members of the GOP:

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, has introduced legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the country (besides those states or territories that do not participate in daylight saving time). His argument: the country needs to end the “annual craziness of changing the clock, falling back, springing forward.” Rubio has submitted the legislation, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, as an amendment to this year’s defense spending bill.

“We need to stop doing it. There’s no justification for it,” Rubio said in a prerecorded statement released earlier this month. “The overwhelming majority of members of Congress approve that and support it. Let’s get it done, let’s get it passed, so that we never have to do this stupid change again.”

This is a real “a broken clock is right twice a day” situation. (Ditto a chance to use a variation on Clickhole’s famed “The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point” meme.) But Rubio’s not the only person of, shall we say, questionable authority to support this legislation. Tennessee Representative (and anti-Fauci-ite) Marsha Blackburn is also in the group, alongside such Democrats as Senator Edward Markey.

Will they ever be able to axe Standard Time? Perhaps! According to Politico, since 2018, a total of 19 states have “enacted legislation or passed a resolution or voter initiative that move to make daylight saving time permanent.” It’s just up to Congress to authorize the measure before the states can kill it dead. They’re, of course, a little busy these days, but if there’s one subject that could potentially cause a beyond rare moment of bipartisanship, it’s this. We can’t believe we’re saying this, but, uh, save us, Marco Rubio.

(Via Politico)

If much like the rest of the world you simply can’t get enough Succession, you’ll be delighted to know good ol’ Cousin Greg is headed to another HBO Max show to help make the holidays even merrier. According to a Variety report, HBO has officially announced the rest of the cast for their upcoming adult stop-motion animated holiday series Santa Inc. In addition to Succession’s Nicholas Braun, Leslie Grossman, Gabourey Sidibe, Craig Robinson, Nicholas Braun, Maria Bamford, and Joel Kim Booster have all been added to the project led by comedy stars Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen.

Consisting of eight episodes and one hell of a cast, Santa Inc. is a mature holiday series modeled after the wholesome specials you grew up watching with a feminist twist. In it, Seth Rogen stars as the big man himself, Santa Claus, while Sarah Silverman takes on the role of a meek elf named Candy Smalls who wants nothing more than to become Santa’s first female successor. Grossman will be playing Cookie, a “‘frazzled and loudmouthed gingerbread woman,’ who also happens to be a mother and Candy’s friend,” while Sidibe will portray a “fervently single” bisexual reindeer named Goldie who is, somewhat resentfully, a part of Santa’s “B-team” of reindeer.

Robinson, on the other hand, will be voicing Junior, the leader of the Alpha reindeer pack that pulls Santa’s sled. However, HBO warns fans to not expect Robinson to be a fuzzy, feel-good leader, telling Variety Junior often “belittles the Reindeer, yells at anyone in his way, uses his fame for no good, gets into fights, humiliates the weak and really has it in for Candy.”

Booster will be playing Jingle Jim, Santa’s chief of staff, right-hand man, and “the manipulation machine” of Santa Inc., while Bamford voices two major characters: Mrs. Claus and Big Candy. While Mrs. Claus is pretty self-explanatory, Big Candy is Candy’s mother who is described by Variety as “doting but overbearing” and wants nothing more than for her daughter to simply settle down with a nice man. Last but certainly not least, Braun voices frat boy Devin, a North Pole University student who takes an internship at Santa Inc. in hopes to work alongside Candy and one day get a job at the company.

First announced in 2020, Santa Inc. is a passion project for HBO Max executive vice president original comedy and animation Suzanna Makkos, who said she has “long dreamed of a taking a beloved holiday tradition and adding a feminist agenda and some R rated comedy.” The series is slated to hit the streaming service on December 2.

Kyle Mooney has long been arguably the most out-there cast member on SNL. It was surreal YouTube videos that got him the gig, and since he joined the show in 2013, he’s done things like start a beefs with Pete Davidson (back when he was dating Ariana Grande) and Ye and offered a very career-oriented Baby Yoda. It’s clear he has even loftier ambitions, some of which he’ll get to see through when Netflix drops his parody of ‘80s and ‘90s Saturday morning cartoons.

It’s called Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, and it will hit the streamer on December 10. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the show is being called a “wildly irreverent and slightly disturbing” send-up of the kind of cut-rate programming kids used to binge as they started their weekend. Mooney will play two roles: Skip and Trebor, twins who host one such TV show, which will be a mix of live-action and animation.

There’s no word on exactly what shows Mooney will be lampooning, but perhaps he’ll tackle some of the big dogs: cartoons like Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Smurfs, Jem and the Holograms, Schoolhouse Rock, and live-action ones like Pee-wee’s Playhouse and Saved by the Bell. A lot of those were pretty weird already, but Mooney’s an odd duck, so there’s every reason to believe he’ll destroy your childhood in creative fashion.

Saturday Morning All Star Hits! premieres on Netflix starting Dec. 10, which, incidentally, is a Friday.

(Via THR)

Last month’s release of Wet’s latest album, Letter Blue, sees the band embarking on an independent journey following the major label releases of 2016’s Don’t You and 2018’s Still Run. “On this third album, there was no other reason to make it than to make something that was intuitive and creative and coming from a real place of needing to make music and wanting it to feel good to us,” singer Kelly Zutrau told Uproxx.

Zutrau is front and center of the band and often is in their visuals, like the cinematic Gia Coppola-directed alternate video for “Larabar” and the clip for “Bound” featuring Blood Orange. But there’s also been a concerted tilt towards camcorder footage on “Clementine,” the official “Larabar” clip, and now, the supernatural new video for “Only One.”

In the video, a spitting image of a young Zutrau is depicted performing a Wiccan ritual of sorts. As she sacrifices her own blood, her eyes glow over and the camcorder footage motif begins again. She hangs with friends and they all vape A LOT. But it’s a mystical silver surfer-like figure on a motorcycle that is the apple of her eye and it’s all set to the breakneck rhythm of the song co-produced by Chaz Bear (of Toro y Moi).

Watch the video for “Only One” above and check out Wet’s remaining tour dates below.

11/11 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere w/ Coco & Clair Clair
11/12 — Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right w/ DJ set by Heaven I Stay
11/23 — London, UK @ Scala w/ L’Rain

Letter Blue is out now via AWAL. Listen/buy it here.

Talecia Tucker is at a crossroads. They first established themselves with the unisex clothing brand Pretty Major, but recently, Tucker has shifted to making photography a primary professional focus. Those two endeavors actually go hand-in-hand, and in a new Next Success video (presented by Uproxx and Sprite), they get an assist on both fronts.

In the clip, Tucker meets up with fashion designer Lee Velvet, who picks Tucker’s brain about her creative vision. They explained that in their younger years, fashion helped her to really find herself and photography has become a natural extension of that. So, to take those two interests to the next level, Velvet got Tucker set up with a photoshoot.

While Tucker’s DIY aesthetic has served her well so far, Velvet gave them access to equipment, settings, and personnel to take that energy to another level. Tucker admits the environment was intimidating, calling it “my biggest shoot that I’ve ever had,” but positive change happens when you leave your comfort zone.

How did Tucker handle the (literal, in this case) bright lights? That’s a story for the video to tell, along with the tale of Tucker’s professional and personal journeys so far, which you can track by reading more about their journey by visiting our Next Success hub.

The Houston Rockets will play host to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night in a primetime, national TV window on ESPN. It gets that spot because it is the first meeting between the top two picks from the 2021 NBA Draft, as Detroit’s Cade Cunningham faces Houston’s Jalen Green.

It will be a celebration of young talent, two of the league’s hopeful future stars squaring off for the first time on teams that hope to build something meaningful around them. That celebration of youth and promising futures happening in Houston this week is bittersweet coming on the heels of the tragedy at Astroworld over the weekend, where eight died, ranging in age from 14 to 27, and hundreds were injured at Travis Scott’s show when fans stormed towards the stage, trampling others in the mad rush across NRG Stadium.

An investigation into the event is ongoing and lawsuits against Scott, Live Nation, and others in charge of the event are mounting, as families of the victims seek some sort of accountability for what should have been an avoidable tragedy. For the young Rockets, the news hit hard, as many players said they would have been at the show had it not been during a road trip, and Scott has become a fixture at Rockets games. Wednesday’s game with Detroit was also supposed to be Travis Scott Night, but per Marc Spears of The Undefeated, that has understandably been postponed, with a moment of silence planned for the victims from the event.

The Rockets were slated to celebrate “Travis Scott Day” during Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, but it was postponed following the tragedy. The Rockets will instead hold a moment of silence before the game.

As the investigations and lawsuits continue, more information about what exactly happened, how it was communicated in the moment, and where fault lies for an unsafe environment will emerge. In the immediate, many will reflect on how to find ways to support those who lost loved ones.

In the midst of grief, we find ourselves doing odd things. Though our efforts will never result in bringing a lost loved one back, we’ll do anything to feel as though they are even a fraction closer to us. Even if that means leaving a voicemail we know will never be heard.

Doing an innocent spring cleaning on her phone, one woman discovered she had hundreds of voicemails left by a stranger, all the same person. Unbeknown to her, she had been receiving these messages since July 2020.

Just what are on these voicemails? She details it in a now viral TikTok video.

@waifoodd.png It’s noon & now I’m broken #heartbroken #LevisMusicProject #PINKHolidayRemix #sad #fyp #rip #sadvoicemail ♬ Easy On Me – Adele

In the video, which now has more than 3 million views, the caption reads: “All the voicemails consist of ‘I miss you’ and ‘I hope you’re okay’ and long pauses and what sounds to be soft crying?”

Seconds later, we discover that the messages came from an older woman who lost her husband, and that since 2020, she had been calling his number (which is not his number anymore) to let him know she still misses him. The phone revealed she had consistently rang multiple times a day.

One of the voicemail clips plays, and we hear “It’s just me, you’ve been on my mind. I’ll catch you later, bye.”

The TikTok user, unsure of what to do, asked for advice in the comments section, writing “should I answer her calls or maybe just let her keep leaving voicemails–this might be her way of coping.”

The general consensus can be summed up in one person’s response: “just let her have this.”

As many shared their own experiences, it became clear that this coping strategy is quite common. Feeling like a loved one is still just a phone call away somehow makes the pain a bit more bearable.

One person commented: “I’m still paying my dad’s phone bill 1.5 years later because I don’t want anyone else to have it.”

“I still text my husband. He’s been gone 2.5 years … We know it’s not going anywhere, but we’ve lost the one person we tell everything,” said another.

One of the things we lose when a loved one dies is the chance for real conversation. So many things get left unsaid. We can look at old photographs, sure, but never again will we be able to ask “How was your day?” or exchange “I love yous,” or lightheartedly complain about last night’s episode, or share how much you’ve grown and how grateful you are to have this person in your life (after all, there’s always tomorrow, right?). These are the moments that seem to die as well. So it’s no wonder we cling onto something as simple as a phone number, if it means that we get to really share how important someone was. And still is.

The TikTok user decided to follow the advice, and let the woman hold onto the small piece of comfort by allowing her to keep calling. It’s a small act of kindness that clearly means the world to someone else.

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.

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.”

@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.

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.