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Americans pride themselves on living in the “best country in the world.” However, the American way of life isn’t for everyone and some prefer the more laid-back approach to life that people enjoy in Europe.

Four years ago, a writer named Roze left her tiny apartment in Los Angeles, booked a one-way flight to Turn, Italy and never looked back. Now, she documents her new life in Europe on TikTok to inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Recently, she posted a video in which she counts down 5 things that she’ll never do now that she lives in Italy. These are examples of the relief some Americans feel when they move to Europe and settle into their new, stress-free lifestyle.

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1. Rush

“One of the first things that attracted me to Italian culture is the fact that people don’t seem to be in a rush. There are no drive-thrus. People don’t walk and eat. If you need a coffee, you sit down and drink a cup of coffee. There’s always time for that.”

2. Own a car

“I don’t plan on ever living in a place where you need a car to get around. I don’t like the expense of a car and it’s just bad for the environment.”

3. Live for work

“I’ll never obsess about work as much as I used to do in the U.S. Now, I’m not saying that people don’t work here. People work very hard, but there’s not as many people who make working hard their whole personality.”

@rozeinitaly

A few ways my perspective has changed since moving abroad, maybe some other American immigrants can relate? #fivethingschallenge #5thingsiwouldneverdo #5thingschallenge #americanimmigrant #movingabroadtips #expatsinitaly #italylifestyle #lifeinitaly🇮🇹

4. Trust the internet for business hours

“If you look it up on Google Maps, it says that it’s open from 10 am to, I think, 7 or 7:30 pm. Does that mean I can go there at like 2:30 3 o’clock? No. What is not listed on there is that they are closed from 1 to 4 for lunch.”

5. Worry about medical bills

“I just don’t plan on living anywhere where there is not some kind of universal healthcare.”

On Kabutomushi, the latest EP from math rock-meets-bossa nova artist Mei Semones, tales of strife and utopia coexist. Whether the Brooklyn-based jazz guitarist lets go of a long-term friendship on “Wakare No Kotoba” (Japanese for “parting words”) or envisions a pastoral paradise on “Inaka,” (Japanese for “countryside”) Semones allows the space for a wide spectrum of emotions and styles. As she reconstructs her warm, comforting arrangements to suit complex, proggy time signatures, it never seems forced. Instead, it just sounds natural.

Kabutomushi is the name for the Japanese rhinoceros battle, an insect that Semones would try to find whenever she visited her grandmother in Japan as child. As a whole, this EP is an homage to her late grandmother, both in its wistful, commemorative lyrics, as on the title track, and in spirit.

Following the EP’s release this past Friday, Semones sits down with Uproxx to discuss those precious memories of her grandmother, her admiration of John Coltrane, and why her mother is her favorite person to follow on social media in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Sweet, sophisticated, vulnerable, straightforward.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

I would like my music to be remembered as something comforting, something that helped people feel less alone. I also would like it to be remembered as something new and different.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

John Coltrane — obviously my music sounds nothing like him, but I love his music & playing.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?

At my parent’s house in Michigan, my mom’s nabe (hotpot) 🙂

Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.

I really enjoyed seeing Ravi Coltrane at Village Vanguard!

What song never fails to make you emotional?

“Monk’s Mood.”

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“What time is it in California?”

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

I honestly haven’t stayed anywhere too weird on tour — one of my favorite places recently was my friend Natalie’s place in Chicago. A really nice living room & really cute cats :,)

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?

New York City is my favorite city to play. And I’ve played solo in Tokyo before, but we’ve never played there as full band, so I hope to do that soon 🙂

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

You should practice more.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

Unfortunately I don’t think I have any… I used to be pretty good at drawing.

If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?

Right now, I would donate to humanitarian aid in Gaza.

What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?

I don’t think about it too much… I’m going to keep making music in the way that I like to, and I’m sure other people will too.

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.

John Roseboro, Nebulous Quartet, Nirvana, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk at Myrtle Ave Broadway.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?

My mom — she posts great photos of our dogs & food pics.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

I don’t have any tattoos. I promised my grandma I would never get tattoos in exchange for her Gucci watch. Also I don’t want tattoos because then I wouldn’t be able to go to the onsen.

What is your pre-show ritual?

Write out setlists, collect & distribute drink tickets, say hello to my friends at the show 🙂

Who was your first celebrity crush?

I think it was River Phoenix in Stand By Me.

You have a month off and the resources to take a dream vacation. Where are you going and who is coming with you?

I would take my family, my boyfriend, and my band all over Japan to a bunch of different hotels/resorts & sightseeing.

What is your biggest fear?

Being mean to someone or hurting someone’s feelings by accident.

Kabutomushi is out now via Bayonet Records. Find more information here.

Maybe you’re one of those elite travelers who’s mastered packing for an entire trip using only carry-on luggage. If so, you’re likely haughty and won’t stop crowing about the convenience of hopping off the plane and jetting to your destination.

We know: The airlines lost your bag in 1986 and you vowed never again. So, now you roll three garments, one pair of shoes, a tiny bottle of 5-in-one body wash, and a Kindle into your backpack, and you’re good to go.

For the rest of us mere traveling mortals, especially those with kids, checking bags is a necessary evil—a necessary and costly one.

If it seems to you like checked bag fees have been steadily climbing, that’s because checked bag fees have been steadily climbing. According to this article, bag fees on American Airlines rose 33% just last year from $30 per bag to $40 and 5 of the 6 biggest carriers raised their fees last year.

Why is the entire industry upping their checked-bag fees? There’s a specific reason involving an arcane bit of tax code, which accounts for why the fees are tacked on separately versus rolled into the price of the ticket.

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​Jay L. Zagorsky, a business school professor who studies travel, says 7.5% of every domestic ticket goes to the federal government. Airlines dislike this, claiming it raises ticket prices for consumers. But as long as the bag fee is separate, it is excluded from the 7.5% transportation tax.

Estimated bag fees for 2023 topped 7 billion. By making the bag fees separate, airlines saved themselves about half a billion dollars. If that savings has been passed down to the customer, then we all got a bit of a break, too.

​Perhaps you automatically dislike the separate fees because you’re Gen X and remember a time when a ticket was all-inclusive. Now, it feels like you’re paying for stuff you used to get for free.

Turns out that more and more travelers actually like the separate charges.

​“One thing that our research has shown,” Henry Hartevedlt, president of travel industry analytics firm Atmosphere Research told USA Today, “is that more than two-thirds of U.S. leisure airline passengers now feel that the unbundling of the coach product and letting people buy what they want and need on an à la carte basis is actually something they like because it helps them stick to their budget.”

This is a positive way to look at something that’s undoubtedly here to stay. And now if you hear someone complain about bag fees at the airport, you’ll know why it’s done the way it’s done, which is really sweet satisfaction in itself.

Of course, there’s always this unusual workaround courtesy of Reddit user Old_Man_Withers, “I Fedex my luggage to the hotel and carry nothing on the plane but my laptop for work. It doesn’t matter if it’s 2 days or two months, I ship it. The hotel has it waiting in my room when I get there and I ship it back home from there when I’m done. No random inspections, no chances of loss without recompense, fully trackable… I see no downside that isn’t worth the 50-100 bucks it costs.”

Conan O’Brien had a blink-and-you-missed-it run as “Tonight Show” host. After only a year, he was unceremoniously laid off in 2010 by NBC due to a contractual dispute and replaced by former host Jay Leno, followed by Jimmy Fallon in 2014.

But despite his short-lived reign, O’Brien cemented himself as a wickedly funny and whip smart performer, as well as a master of recurring gags, self-deprecating humor and engaging conversation…not to mention developing a reputation for being a pretty great guy off the air.

Which is why fans were excited to see O’Brien appear as a “Tonight Show” guest for Tuesday’s episode, marking a return to his old stomping grounds for the first time in 14 years. And let’s just say…O’Brien’s comeback did not disappoint.

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During parts of the interview, O’Brien exuded that same amount of candid poise that he famously maintained throughout the 2010 controversy. Like when he talked about podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” the project that followed his “Tonight Show” exit, he said he still considered hosting a late-night show “the best job in the world,” but shared his appreciation for the podcast format since it allows for longer, more in-depth conversations with guests.

But along with all the sentimentality were trademark rapid fire zingers and absurdly dramatic outbursts, especially when talking about how “weird” it felt to be back at Rockefeller Center.

“I was here for 16 years doing the ‘Late Night’ show,” O’Brien told Jimmy Fallon (both “Late Night” and “The Tonight Show” filmed in the same building.

“When someone else is in your studio it feels weird. So I walked in and said, ‘Who’s in my old studio?’ And they said ‘Kelly Clarkson’. And I love Kelly Clarkson, who doesn’t love Kelly Clarkson? But still I felt like, IT’S NOT RIGHT! BLASPHEMY! THEY SHOULD HAVE BURNED IT TO THE GROUND!”

“And then Kelly came out to say hi and I said, DON’T TALK TO ME! YOU MAKE ME SICK!!”

Man, O’Brien really knows how to commit to the bit. Watch:

O’Brien’s interview was so well received that fans seemed to fall in love with him all over again.

“Conan returns to the Tonight Show in TRIUMPHHH being one of the greatest of all time.”

“Conan is going down in history as one of the greatest to ever do it!”

“Conan’s career is a true testament to the saying ‘Everything happens for a reason.’”

“This hit me right in the feels.”

“The man’s a national treasure, give him everything.”

If you’re left wanting even more Coco, O’Brien has a new series, “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” which debuts on April 18 on Max. Talk about a full circle moment.

Being a teacher isn’t easy. Teaching middle school students is particularly not easy. Teaching middle school students who spent several of their formative years going through a global pandemic in the age of smartphones, social media and a youth mental health crisis is downright heroic.

If you haven’t spent time in a middle school classroom, you may not fully grasp the intensity of it on every level, from awkwardness to body odor to the delightful hilarity that tweens bring to the table. When you connect with your students, it can be incredibly rewarding, and when you don’t…well, we all read “Lord of the Flies,” right?

Skilled teachers bring out the best in young people, and that can be done in many different ways. For Amy Allen, it’s by making her classroom a fun, welcoming place for kids to learn.

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She plays games with them, gets rambunctious with them and creates opportunities for them to expend some of that intense pre-and-early-teen energy in healthy ways. For instance, she shared a video of a game of “grudgeball,” an active trivia game that makes reviewing for a quiz or test fun and competitive, and you can see how high-energy her classroom is:

@_queenoftheclassroom

If this looks like fun to you, pick up my grudgeball template (🔗 in bio) #qotc #grudgeball #10outof10recommend @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️

Allen clearly enjoyed the game as much as her students (“I love the chaos!” she shared), and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Fun keeps teachers sane, too. But one person took issue with her classroom behavior and commented, “your a teacher act like it.” (Not my typo—that’s exactly what the person wrote, only with no period.)

Allen addressed the comment in another video in the most perfect way possible—by acting exactly like a teacher. Watch:

@_queenoftheclassroom

Replying to @كل الكلبات تريد مني Come see me if you have any further questions. #qotc #iteachmiddleschool #weDEFINITELYdonthavefuninhere @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ #Inverted

There are two solid ways to handle a rude comment without making things worse—you can ignore it or you can craft a response that makes the person look like a fool without being cruel or rude yourself. Allen’s grammar lesson response was A+ work, right down to the “Come see me if you have any further questions” caption.

In fact, the person apparently went back and deleted their comment after the comeback video went viral, which makes it all the more hilarious.

The irony, of course, is that Allen was acting like a teacher in her video—an engaged teacher with engaged students who are actively participating in the learning process. Just because it doesn’t look like serious study doesn’t mean it’s not learning, and for some kids, this kind of activity might be far more effective at helping them remember things they’ve learned (in this case, vocabulary words) than less energetic ways of reviewing.

Teaching middle school requires a lot of different skills, but perhaps the most important one is to connect with students, partly because it’s far easier to teach someone actually wants to be in your classroom and partly because effective teaching is about so much more than just academics. A teacher might be the most caring, stable, trustworthy adult in some students’ lives. What looks like silly fun and games in a classroom can actually help students feel safe and welcomed and valued, knowing that a teacher cares enough to try to make learning as enjoyable as possible.

Plus, shared laughter in a classroom helps build a community of engaged learners, which is exactly what a classroom should be. Keep up the awesome, work Ms. Allen, both in the classroom and in the comment section.

Grieving in the technology age is uncharted territory.

I’ll take you back to Saturday, June 9, 2012. At 8:20 a.m., my 36-year-old husband was pronounced dead at a hospital just outside Washington, D.C.

By 9:20 a.m., my cellphone would not stop ringing or text-alerting me long enough for me to make the necessary calls that I needed to make: people like immediate family, primary-care doctors to discuss death certificates and autopsies, funeral homes to discuss picking him up, and so on. Real things, important things, time-sensitive, urgent things.

At 9:47 a.m., while speaking to a police officer (because yes, when your spouse dies, you must be questioned by the police immediately), one call did make it through. I didn’t recognize the number. But in those moments, I knew I should break my normal rule and answer all calls. “He’s dead??? Oh my God. Who’s with you? Are you OK? Why am I reading this on Facebook? Taya, what the heck is going on?”

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Facebook? I was confused. I hadn’t been on Facebook since the day before, so I certainly hadn’t taken the time in the last 90 minutes to peek at the site.

“I’ll call you back”, I screamed and hung up. I called my best friend and asked her to search for anything someone might have written and to contact them immediately and demand they delete it. I still hadn’t spoken to his best friend, or his godsister, or our godchild’s parents, or a million other people! Why would someone post it to Facebook SO FAST?

While I can in no way speak for the entire planet, I certainly feel qualified to propose some suggestions — or, dare I say, rules — for social media grieving.

How many RIPs have you seen floating through your social media stream over the last month? Probably a few. Death is a fate that we will each meet at some point. The Information Age has changed the ways in which we live and communicate daily, yet there are still large voids in universally accepted norms.

This next statement is something that is impossible to understand unless you’ve been through it:

There is a hierarchy of grief.

Yes, a hierarchy. It’s something people either don’t understand or understand but don’t want to think or talk about — yet we must.

There is a hierarchy of grief.

Hierarchy is defined as:

1. a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority, and
2. an arrangement or classification of things according to relative importance or inclusiveness.

What does this mean as it relates to grief? Let me explain. When someone dies — whether suddenly or after a prolonged illness, via natural causes or an unnatural fate, a young person in their prime or an elderly person with more memories behind them than ahead — there is one universal truth : The ripples of people who are affected is vast and, at times, largely unknown to all other parties.

A death is always a gut punch with varying degrees of force and a reminder of our own mortality. Most people are moved to express their love for the deceased by showing their support to the family and friends left behind.

In the days before social media, these expressions came in the form of phone calls, voicemail messages, and floral deliveries.

If you were lucky enough to be in close proximity to the family of the newly deceased, there were visits that came wrapped with hugs and tears, and deliveries of food and beverages to feed all the weary souls.

Insert social media. All of those courtesies still occur, but there is a new layer of grief expression — the online tribute in the form of Facebook posts, Instagram photo collages, and short tweets.

What’s the problem with that? Shouldn’t people be allowed to express their love, care, concern, support, and prayers for the soul of the recently deceased and for their family?

Yes.

And no.

Why? Because there are no established “rules,” and people have adopted their own. This isn’t breaking news, and you’re not trying to scoop TMZ. Listen, I know you’re hurt. Guess what? Me too. I know you’re shocked. Guess what? Me too. Your social media is an extension of who you are. I get it. You “need” to express your pain, acknowledge your relationship with the deceased, and pray for the family.

Yes.

However…

Please give us a minute.

We are shocked.

We are heartbroken.

Give the immediate family or circle a little time to handle the immediate and time-sensitive “business” related to death. In the minutes and early hours after someone passes away, social media is most likely the last thing on their minds. And even if it does cross their mind, my earlier statement comes into play here.

There is a hierarchy of grief.

Please pause and consider your role and relationship to the newly deceased. Remember, hierarchy refers to your status and your relative importance to the deceased. I caution you to wait and then wait a little longer before posting anything. This may seem trivial, silly, and not worth talking about, but I promise you it isn’t.

If the person is married, let the spouse post first.

If the person is “young” and single, let the partner, parents, or siblings post first.

If the person is “old” and single, let the children post first.

If you can’t identify the family/inner circle of the person, you probably shouldn’t be posting at all.

Do you get where I’m going with this?

In theory, we should never compare grief levels, cast the grief-stricken survivors into roles, or use words like status and importance. But maybe we need to at this moment (and for the next few weeks and months).

The “RIP” posts started hitting my timeline about an hour after my husband’s death, and I certainly didn’t start them. This created a sense of confusion, fear, anxiety, panic, dread, and shock for the people who knew me, too. What’s wrong? Who are we praying for? Did something happen? Did someone pass? Why are there RIPs on your wall and I can’t reach you? Call me please! What’s going on?

That’s a small sample of messages on my voicemail and text inbox. I had to take a minute in the midst of it all to ask a friend to post a status to my Facebook page on my behalf.

Your love and expressions of support are appreciated and needed, but they can also be ill-timed and create unintended additional stress.

The person is no less dead and your sympathy no less heartfelt if your post, photo, or tweet is delayed by a few hours. Honestly, the first couple of hours are shocking, and many things are a blur. Most bereaved people will be able to truly appreciate your love, concern, prayers, and gestures after the first 24 hours.

I’ve learned this from the inside — twice within the last four years. And I assure you that if we each adopted a little patience and restraint in this area, we would help those who are in the darkest hours of their lives by not adding an unnecessary layer of stress.

A few extra hours could make all the difference.

This article originally appeared on 05.07.19

The NBA has quickly gone into a full embrace with the gambling world now that sports betting has been legalized in most of the United States, but while the business side is happy to partner with sportsbooks, the same rules exist for players when it comes to betting.

Any gambling on the NBA is completely off limits, and that is doubly the case when it involves the team you are playing on or your personal prop bets. Up until recently, the NBA had avoided the kinds of gambling controversies and suspensions that the NFL has dealt with in the past few years, but at the end of March a rather large betting scandal arrived at the NBA’s doorstep. The league is investigating allegations that Raptors big man Jontay Porter was knowingly involved in big hits from bettors on betting the under on his props in two games in January and March.

The red flags were raised by league-partner DraftKings, which noted Porter’s props on those nights were unusually the most-bet props of the night, with some accounts trying to bet five-figure sums on Porter’s unders. The insinuation has been that Porter was tipping off bettors to the fact that he wouldn’t play much in those games, which is, of course, a major no-no.

On Wednesday, Adam Silver addressed that investigation and said that, while it’s still ongoing, what Porter is accused of is a “cardinal sin” in the NBA and if they find he was involved, banishment from the league would be on the table.

That isn’t a major surprise as that has long been the response of league’s to players betting on their own teams, but it’s clear Silver wants to make sure the message is heard by everyone, including other players. To a league, betting on games you’re involved in is the worst thing you can do because it brings into question the integrity of the sport itself, which in turn craters trust with fans and makes the sport far less desirable to watch. We will have to wait to find out if the league can find proof Porter was, in fact, involved, but if so, it’s fair to assume Michael Porter Jr. will quickly become the only Porter brother left in the NBA.

Calvin LeBrun, better known as Mister Cee or DJ Mister Cee, a high-profile personality for New York radio station Hot97, has reportedly died at the age of 57, according to multiple New York hip-hop personalities including MC Lyte and former colleague Peter Rosenberg.

Cee rose to fame in the pioneering Golden Era of the late ’80s when he worked alongside Brooklyn rapper Big Daddy Kane on his groundbreaking debut album, Long Live The Kane. Cee was also widely credited with being one of the first supporters of The Notorious B.I.G., promoting Biggie’s 1991 demo tape; his support is credited for The Source giving Big early publicity via its “Unsigned Hype” column, which led to Sean “Diddy” Combs hearing the tape and signing Biggie to Uptown, then to the newly formed Bad Boy Records.

Cee became the focal point for a heated debate about sexuality in hip-hop when he was arrested for picking up prostitutes in 2011 — either drag queens or trans women (it’s a little unclear, as coverage back then was less… “enlightened”) — and the controversy sparked widespread discussion across the hip-hop blogosphere. In May 2013, he went on-air to deny being gay but admit to enjoying “fellatio with a transsexual: a man that looks like a woman.” Again, the language of the time was a lot less precise and discussion was a bit rougher — although not by much (see: J. Cole’s “Pi” verse).

Although no cause of death for Mister Cee has been reported, social media is already alight with respectful homages and well-wishes for his family, friends, and former co-workers at Hot97. He’s got a legacy set in stone, and he will be missed.

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington‘s first four movies together are: Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man. Pretty good track record! They will soon start working on their fifth collaboration with help from one of the most in-demand rappers out there: Ice Spice.

Variety reports that Ice Spice has joined the cast of High and Low, Lee’s English-language reinterpretation of the Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller of the same name. This will be the “Munch (Feelin’ U)” rapper’s acting debut, unless you count her recent appearance on Hot Ones, which you should. She suffered for her art.

“I didn’t ever really like see myself being a rapper,” Spice said on Hot97’s Ebro in the Morning in 2023. “I always wanted to be an actress. That was like, my first passion.”

Apple Original Films, which partnered with A24 on the “Spike Lee joint,” shared a photo of the filmmaker and Washington on X to announce that production has begun on the project. “No. 5 now in production,” it reads.

Lee’s High and Low does not currently have a release date, but it will be released theatrically by A24 before a global launch on AppleTV+. You can watch the original film on Max.