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This week, New Jersey arena-punk band The Gaslight Anthem announced that they would be returning to full-time status as a concert and recording outfit. In addition to a reunion tour slated for the fall, there are plans to record their first album since 2014’s Get Hurt.

For followers of the band’s frontman Brian Fallon, all of this might have registered as a surprise. The 42-year-old singer-songwriter has put out solo albums at a steady clip since the hiatus, including his fourth full-length release, Night Divine, in 2021. And the music he’s made on his own has veered far from the rousing, Springsteen-inspired fist pumpers that populate well-loved Gaslight Anthem albums like 2008’s The 59 Sound, 2010’s American Slang, and 2012’s Handwritten, which debuted in Billboard‘s top 10. On his own, Fallon has moved in an Americana direction, favoring acoustic guitars and introspective lyrics grappling with adult disappointments, a far cry from the cinematic storytelling associated with The Gaslight Anthem.

When reached by phone this week, Fallon said that after his 2020 album Local Honey he felt like he had closed a chapter on his creative life. Now there’s a familiar urge that harks to his past. “You know what’s pretty cool? Rock music,” he says. “Playing guitars. I want to turn up something to 10 and play. Kick an amp over or something. That sounds great right now.”

In the following interview, Fallon explains how The Gaslight Anthem reunion came about, why it’s important to him that the band make new music, and the inspiration he took from the 2011 Pearl Jam Twenty documentary.

When you guys announced your hiatus back in 2015, the statement read, “We’d like to recharge and take a step back until we have something to feel excited about.” What are you excited about now with The Gaslight Anthem?

During quarantine, I had gotten so bored. You go back to all your biographies and rock ‘n’ roll documentaries you’ve already seen 50 times, and the one thing that I kept thinking to myself is, “Man, I really like bands.” It really is one in a million that you get to do something like this. So, not being able to do anything and having time to think maybe is what allowed it to happen.

You remembered, “Hey, I’m also in a really good band!”

I know that sounds so stupid to say, but it’s so true. I’m like, “My band’s pretty good, what’s the matter with me?”

You labeled your break as a hiatus, which is what bands always do these days instead of officially breaking up. But in your mind, did you ever think The Gaslight Anthem was over for good?

Everybody likes to blame me for the hiatus, but it wasn’t just me. It was a collective decision. We all were like, “This sucks, let’s stop doing this before we embarrass ourselves.”

I like things to be definite in my life. And I like to have solid answers. But this was one of those things that just wouldn’t allow that. I read about how Noel Gallagher just straight up quit Oasis. And I was like, “What if you change your mind? Then all of a sudden you’re like, ‘we quit, just kidding, the final tour, not really’?”

Did you guys stay in touch during the break?

Ben [Horowitz] and I have always been very close — sometimes close at each others throats in the early days. Now that we’re older, though, we would always talk. I would talk to Alex [Levine] and Alex [Rosamilia], too, just to get updates: What are you doing? How’s your family? What’s going on in your life? We all were pretty current with each other, but Ben and I really stayed in touch. Whether we were talking about music or not, we were just always talking. I think getting older changes your perspective on everything. You look and go, “Oh maybe that thing that I was so mad about is not so important.”

Did those anniversary shows the band played in 2018 for The 59 Sound pave the way for this reunion?

I don’t think it did, actually. That sort of made me think, “Well, maybe all that’s left is that.” I walked away feeling more final than when I walked away the first time. If we’re only talking about celebrating past records, that’s really not a path I want to go down. I’m not trying to say anything bad about anybody who wants to celebrate their work. It’s fine. But it’s just not for me. Unless you’re adding to it as well.

How did you make the leap from thinking, “I like being in a band” to the much more ambitious idea of actually writing new Gaslight Anthem songs and reviving the band as a creative enterprise?

Very slowly. [Laughs.] Cautiously. I mean, it had been something that I was thinking about for a while and I didn’t say anything to anyone. I didn’t even say anything to my wife. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted it to happen. And if I said it out loud, I was like, “Does it mean that it’s going to happen?”

I spoke to Ben first. I was like, “I have to come over to your house and we should talk.” I told him when I was thinking and he was positive, but he said, “If you want to do new stuff, then I’m interested. And if you don’t, then I’m not.” I made a deal with myself and I was like, “If I can write four songs that I feel are quality, I’ll call Ben.” And I did. I was like, “Okay, I got four songs. Here’s some iPhone demos. What do you think of this?” I sent them to everybody, actually.

I went over Ben’s house and I sat down with him and it was like, “Is this really happening? Could we do this?” And we just played together for a sec. Because if he and I couldn’t have gotten it together, I don’t think any of it would’ve been the same.

Was that an anxious moment?

There was a lot of trepidation. But once I actually saw him and we sat down, and I was like, “Okay.”

And then, when I talked to Alex and Alex, it had been long enough that we knew what needed to happen. We had a good roadmap. That’s the benefit of being a band for a long time — you know these are the years that it worked really well. And then it sucked here and this is why it sucked. When you have distance from something you can see the moments where it’s like, “Wow, we tried that thing out and it didn’t go right.” So, we went back to the place where it was really working well.

The music you’ve made in your solo career has been pretty different from The Gaslight Anthem. You’ve moved into an Americana/singer-songwriter lane. Do you think you’ll incorporate that style into the band? Or are you now back in the business of writing Gaslight Anthem songs?

Well, I think it’s two sides that have always been there. Even on like the early, early records, like Sink Or Swim, you have “The Navesink Banks” and “Red At Night” that are more Americana. But I know that when I finished doing Local Honey, there was very strong sense of completion. When that record was done, I felt I had achieved something, whatever it was that I was working at. And I was like, “Well, chapter closed. What am I going to do now? You know what’s pretty cool? Rock music. Playing guitars. I want to turn up something to 10 and play. Kick an amp over or something. That sounds great right now.”

Do you think you had burned out on rock music after Get Hurt? It seemed like you were deliberately running away from that for a long time.

It’s true that there was a while there where I was interested in music that was slower and more reflective, and trying to focus on lyrics or singing quieter. But there was also that feeling of, “I’m 40, can I still jump up and down on stage? Or am I an idiot now if I do that?” I wasn’t feeling a sense of mortality. It wasn’t that serious, It was more like, “Will I feel like a clown if I do this?” I am a firm supporter of young bands, and innovation coming from the youth. But I also think that innovation is required for any project to continue going or else it sort of doesn’t need to exist.

I was watching all those documentaries, and I looked at the Foo Fighters — Dave Grohl is at least 10 years older than me, and he’s awesome. They’re jumping up and down, having a great time. And that was encouraging to me.

You said earlier that you have perspective now on when things were going well for the band and when things weren’t. What lessons are you going to be able to apply moving forward?

In the Pearl Jam Twenty DVD, there’s this part where Stone Gossard says, “And then it became the year of no.” And I was like, Oh dude, right. Because when we were young, we were always told, “If you say no to this tour, your career’s going to be over.” And we realized that none of that is true. So, now we know to say, “Hey, if there’s excitement, then let’s move forward. If there’s not excitement, then let’s just pause for a second and figure out why there’s not excitement.” And then we can find that again.

You already have a tour lined up for the fall. When do you hope to make a record?

I’ve always been like a fan of writing more than you need. So, right now I’ve got maybe five or six songs, and I would want to have 30 to pick through and make sure that we’re actually good. The shows will come first, and then hopefully by the end of the year the record will be written to the point where we could pick 11 or 12 songs and then record. So, that would be early next year, early spring.

Britney Spears is best known for her music, of course, but she’s done some acting, too, most notably with a starring role in 2002’s Crossroads. That movie celebrated its 20th anniversary in February and now, Spears has looked back on it by making a sad connection between her character Lucy’s journey and her real life.

Spears shared a clip from the movie on Instagram and wrote, “Scene in a movie I did a ways back !!! When I realized my whole journey to find my mom … and she doesn’t want to see me !!! I know … PRETTY F*CKING SAD !!! I mean [crying emojis] … Psss I mean it’s actually less worse than what my mom did to me in real life so …”

Spears previously accused her mother of being the mastermind behind her conservatorship and said she “secretly ruined my life.”

As for what’s going on in that Crossroads scene, the Wikipedia plot summary of the movie notes in part, “Lucy reveals that her mother left her and her father when she was three years old, but believes that her mother wants to see her again. […] In Tucson, Lucy finds her mother Caroline (Kim Cattrall), who has remarried with two young sons, and is unhappy to see her. Caroline reveals that Lucy was an unintended pregnancy and that she wants nothing to do with her, leaving Lucy heartbroken. At the motel, Ben consoles Lucy and impresses her by writing music to a poem she has written during the trip.”

Crossroads director Tamra Davis recently spoke about Spears and the movie for its anniversary, telling Variety of working with Spears, “[Producer] Ann Carli called and said, ‘Would you be interested in directing a movie starring Britney Spears?’ At first, I said no. I think it’s always a challenge to do a movie that’s starring somebody who is not considered an actress, and she was known mostly at that time being a performer, so I had no idea if she knew how to act. Ann said, ‘Well, at least go out and meet her. She’s doing a MTV thing in Las Vegas. Will you go meet her?’ […] She was hilarious and I just thought she was amazing. We spent the whole day together and she proved to me that she really wanted to do this and put in the work and wanted it and was very serious about it.”

After going nearly all of 2021 without a project, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie arrived in the final month of 2021 with B4 AVA. The 7-track project featured one guest appearance, which was from Lil Durk through their “24 Hours” collaboration. That project arrived as the follow-up to his 2020 album Artist 2.0, and just a few months after the release of B4 AVA, A Boogie is back with a new song and it’s one that features HER beside him.

Together, A Boogie and HER unite for “Playa.” It’s a warm record that sees both acts navigating through the difficulties of a relationship. A Boogie commits to being serious about his lover, adding that he no longer wants to be a “playa.” In the song’s second verse, HER plays the role of A Boogie’s skeptical companion who doesn’t believe his words just yet. Instead, she’ll wait for his actions to prove that he’s truly serious about the relationship.

The track marks the second time that A Boogie and HER have worked together. The first time came in early 2020 through a performance of “Me And My Guitar” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The late-night appearance came after Artist 2.0 debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.

You can listen to “Playa” in the video above.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Gucci Mane, Young Dolph, and Key Glock all had productive years in 2021. Gucci dropped his Ice Daddy, So Icy Boyz, and So Icy Christmas projects. Young Dolph and Key Glock reunited for Dum And Dummer 2 and Dolph dropped Paper Route Illuminati with his Paper Route crew. Glock also gave the world Yellow Tape 2 to close out 2021. This year was set to be a busy year for the trio, but that’s unfortunately and sadly not the case for Dolph as he was tragically shot and killed last November. Thankfully for those who are fans of Dolph, we’ve received a new posthumous verse from him thanks to a track with Gucci Mane and Key Glock.

The trio unites for “Blood All On It,” and it’s quite the heinous track as it finds the rappers doing their best to keep their hands clean after their evildoings. The track even arrives with a music video that sees appearances from Gucci, Key Glock, and Dolph. While Gucci and Dolph rap together on a tarmac near planes and luxury cars, Dolph finds himself inside an aircraft accompanied by quite the collection of hundred-dollar bills.

The song extends an active year that both Gucci Mane and Key Glock have had. Gucci kicked things off by connecting with Lil Durk for “Rumors.” He followed that up with “Publicity Stunt,” a record he used to respond to some disses from NBA Youngboy. Key Glock, on the other hand, is a week removed from releasing the deluxe version of Yellow Tape 2.

You can check out “Blood All On It” in the video above.

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

At long last, the City Girls are back in action. It’s been nearly a year since the duo that’s comprised of JT and Yung Miami dropped a record, with that being 2021’s TikTok viral track, “Twerkulator.” Some hoped that the track would lead to City Girls’ fourth album and follow-up to 2020’s City On Lock, but unfortunately, that has not arrived yet. It appears that it could change today and City Girls return with “Top Notch” and it features a guest appearance from Fivio Foreign.

Their new track arrives with a video that sees JT, Yung Miami, and Fivio enjoying themselves on the street corners of New York. It’s quite possible that “Top Notch” is the first sign that City Girls’ fourth album will arrive sooner than later. If that’s the case, the hope is that the project will have a much smoother release than their 2020 album City On Lock. That album was prematurely leaked and it forced the duo to release it earlier than they would’ve liked in order to make the best out of the situation.

As for Fivio Foreign, he’s a week away from finally releasing his debut album B.I.B.L.E. The project arrives after a big 2021 year that was highlighted by his standout verse on “Off The Grid” from Kanye West’s Donda. So far, B.I.B.L.E. has been led by two singles: “City Of Gods” with Kanye West and Alicia Keys and “Magic City” with Quavo.

You can listen to “Top Notch” in the video above.

Freddie Gibbs has tapped Rick Ross for a guest appearance on his latest single, “Ice Cream.” In and out like a flash in two minutes, Gibbs and Ross don’t hold back on the track, and especially not in the video, where Gibbs rides in the back of an ice cream truck, booty slapping twerking ladies and smoking a blunt like it’s going out of style. Ross is decked out in all red with layers of gold chains, rapping in a white room that’s snowing. What a drip.

Produced by Kenny Beats, the beat is a trippy flip of Raekwon’s classic 1995 cut of the same name off of the seminal album, Only Built For Cuban Linx. Back then, the RZA sampled and twisted Earl Klugh’s 1980 joint, “A Time For Love,” and wove it into one of the most iconic beats in the Wu-Tang canon for Raekwon, Method Man, and Cappadonna to flow over. Kenny Beats’ homage is subtle, but once you hear it, it’s a worthy nod to the classic. And as the track comes to a close, the melody is more noticeable.

Meanwhile, Gibbs is set to perform at Coachella in two weeks. That hasn’t stopped him from beefing with Benny The Butcher on Twitter lately over a joint album that’s probably never going to happen. As for Ross, the budding lumberjack was recently seen bragging about how he saved ten grand by cutting down his own trees.

Watch the video for “Ice Cream” above.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Nobody really knows why we celebrate April Fools’ Day on the first day of April. Some people believe that it goes back all the way to the Roman Empire when they celebrated Hilaria, a festival of merriment where people dressed up in disguise.

Others say that it began in 1583 in France when the country switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent. Folks who were slow on the uptake and didn’t realize that the calendar had moved to January 1 became the butt of jokes and pranks.

Regardless, this is your reminder that on April 1, 2022, you should be prepared to prank some people or at least be aware that it’s April Fools’ Day so you can avoid being the victim of someone else’s tomfoolery.

A Reddit user who goes by the name Never–Mind asked the online forum to share their favorite April Fools’ Day pranks and they got a ton of great responses. “Since April Fools day is fast approaching, what have been some of your best April Fool pranks?” they asked.

The great thing is that most of them are really easy to pull off. When it comes to pranks, simple is usually best. Simple pranks are harder to detect and easier to accomplish without getting caught.

Here are 17 of the best responses to the r/AskReddit question.

1.

“There are 4 doors to our building and my co-worker put a sign on each one that says ‘Door broken use other door’ with an arrow pointing left.” — Proud Turtle.

2. 

“Piece of opaque tape over the laser on everyone’s mouse. IT was pretty pissed, I need to take that one to the grave with me.” — [deleted]

3.

“I work in Sales, and it seems like we always have a new guy around April. I like to write down on a post-it ‘Please follow up with Mr. Baer at…’ and then the number for the San Francisco zoo.” — mismistu

4.

“Here’s mine for this year. I hope it works. I recently purchased an espresso machine that leaves me with little hard pucks of compressed coffee grounds. I intend on covering them in frosting and leaving them on the break room table at work. Muhaha.” — FuzzyManPeach

5.

“A greek radio station once said on the news that Greece would quit the euro and go back to their old currency (this was before the whole economy crisis there). The Greek stock market had a crazy and troubled morning until they finally got that it was only an April Fools Joke.” — isablaubear

6.

“High school summer, my friend had a habit of getting up at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I dropped by his place and his mom informed me that he was still sleeping and I should go wake him up. He’s a really heavy sleeper so I decided to have a little fun. I moved his cell phone into the center of the floor, about 4 feet from his bed. I crawled under the bed and gave him a call. No response. Called again and I finally heard movement. Hand comes down, can’t quite reach the phone. Foot comes down, another foot. He’s got the phone sitting down on the edge of the bed.

A very groggy, ‘..hey, what’s up man.. what are you up to?’
I pull off the best freddy kreuger voice I can muster, and yell out, “I’M UNDER THE BED” and grab his ankles with a vice grip. He jumps halfway across the room, nearly faceplants since I have his feet. He kicks my hands away and half scamper/crawls across the room until he realizes what happened. There was lots of swearing, he didn’t think it was as funny as I did.” — JMace

7.

“I’m a female kindergarten teacher. I wore a mustache all day long and pretended it wasn’t there…even with the parents. Everyone got a kick out of it except for one student who cried because ‘I looked scary.'” — HotTamalesYum

8.

“One April 1st I got up before my wife. I went to the kitchen to get some water. I opened the curtains to see that our neighbour’s house, across the lane, was on fire. I ran to the bedroom and told my wife. She opened one eye and said, “Sure, sure. Ha ha.” She got up seconds later when she could hear the fire trucks. Every April 1st, as a joke, I tell her the same thing.” — windy496

9.

“It wasn’t mine, but it was my mother’s. I was six years old and one day she gave my daily cereal, which was cheerios, in milk. But today it was different. The milk was a teal blue, and luckily my six-year-old self seemed to notice. I asked ‘Mommy what’s wrong with the milk?’ She said ‘oh nothing a blue cow just made it.’ And I was more excited than terrified and ate it all up. I told all the kids at school I ate a blue cow’s milk and they were all jealous as fuuuuuck. it wasn’t until later I realized it was dyed, and I felt like a fraud for telling all my friends I ate a blue cow.” — randomfactgirl

10.

“Last year I posted on Craigslist under the personals section, listing wfm. Googled “selfie” and found some hot girl and used that on the post. Pretended I had just moved to town, and was looking for a good time around town, and someone who knew how to show a girl a good time. I posted my friend Victor’s cell number and said the girl’s name was Victoria and went by Vic. I specified at the end of the post that ‘I’m kinda picky though, so send me a pic if you think you’ve got the goods, and you may get one back ;)’

Anyway, this was 1 am on 4/1. By 3 am his girlfriend was waking him up saying “someone’s blowing up your phone” Vic -“hand it to me.” She picks it up, only to see a dick pick that says “hey Vic, here’s mine, send me yours.” Oh and over 50 more dick shots. By the time he came into work his phone had died twice, and he had over 500 dic pictures sent to him. I deleted the post, told him it was me and we had a good laugh. Still, one of my favorite stories to tell, though I still work with him and I’m scared for this year.” — SopwithStrutter

11.

“I replaced a picture of one of my friend’s family members with a black and white picture of Boris Johnson.” — RugbyTime

12.

“In 3rd grade, the teacher walks into the room with a pissed look. She says the tests from yesterday were horrible and starts telling everyone’s super-low grades out loud. She goes on to give us all a piece of paper, saying we are having another test right now. She then proceeds to write the instructions on the board: April’s Fool. Super scary moment for me. A girl cried.” — Shroomsters

13.

“At the office, fill a bowl with trail mix, but remove all M&M’s and replace with Skittles.” — cgrant993

14.

“Not necessarily done on April’s fool, more like random days throughout the year. One day for uni we went on a bus trip to go check out the cadavers at another uni. Our lecturer was going to meet us down there, so I took this opportunity to buy him a singing Disney Princess birthday card, I got everyone on the bus to sign it and told them all it was his birthday, which of course it wasn’t but no one clicked that I was joking, I mean I had been in class with these people for 2 years and if they hadn’t figured out I was a smartass, they’re not fit and observant enough to be doctors. So I had convinced the class to sing him happy birthday once we got off the bus, which has started a new tradition. Randomly over time with we’d try top that. I once bought him a cake, streamers, banner, hats and party blowers and got my whole year level to barge into one of his classes and sing happy birthday. Everytime he posts a serious post on the Facebook Page for new students, I always post ‘happy birthday scott.'” — scottydoeskno

15.

“A few years ago I bought 200 packets of mayonnaise and hid them all over my boyfriend at the time’s room. I tucked them in the pockets of all his clothes, in his board games, behind his wall art- anywhere you could think of there was mayonnaise. He was still finding mayo a couple years later.” — AimeeSaysGrowl

16.

“When I was fourteen I came inside and found my parents sitting solemn and serious in the living room. They had me sit down and told me that I was adopted. I was devastated to hear such a thing, and my dad told me how my birth parents had to send me to the United States because it was practically the end of the world for them. They couldn’t get away, and so i was smuggled into the US and adopted. Now the time had come for me to know the truth, to inherit the items my birth parents had sent with me, to begin my journey to learn who I really was, and to take on my destiny. . . As the last son of Krypton.” — [Deleted]

17. 

“I told my friend I was pregnant as a prank and he offered to marry me and raise the baby together…it didn’t feel like a prank anymore.” — TheSilverLinings

How great is Australia? A relaxed cultural vibe that is progressive, inclusive and seems like a literal day at the beach. They even give us some of our favorite Marvel superhero film actors. Must be tough to make a buck there though, right? Actually, they’ve got a significant edge on us there as well. Take a look at Australian’s minimum wage and how much further it goes for the average worker than for your typical hard-working American.

Australian unions are currently pushing for a 5% increase to the minimum wage to counter inflation. Australia’s minimum wage is 20.33 Australian dollars per hour, which is the equivalent of $15.23 (as of the writing of this article).

Meanwhile, Americans are still sitting on the same federal minimum wage we’ve had since 2009—a whopping $7.25 an hour—while we are also dealing with inflation.

Minimum wage by U.S. state varies—a lot—from $7.25 to $15.90. And most states have different minimum wages for tipped jobs such as wait staff in a restaurant, on the assumption that you’ll earn enough tips to make up the base wage. Though employers can choose to pay above the minimum, they aren’t required to. And the minimum tipped wage in 17 states is $2.13 per hour.

Let me repeat that. In 17 states in the United States of America in 2022, the tipped minimum wage is $2.13 per hour.

That’s bonkers. And the disparity between states is, frankly, shocking. If you live in Washington state, for example, you’re guaranteed to make at least $14.49 per hour in any job, whether you get tips or not. If you live in Idaho—literally the state next door—you’re guaranteed $7.25 per hour for standard labor and just $3.35 per hour for tipped employment. So the base pay for a waiter on one side of an imaginary line is four times more than on the other. So weird.

Anyway, back to Australia. They’re a little worried about us, and it’s not hard to see why.

A 16-year-old Australian on Reddit was shocked to learn that the federal minimum wage here is $7.25 per hour. “There is no way someone can live off that wage even if they’re working full time.” Yep, nope.

Another Aussie responded to a sign for Buc-ee’s, a chain of country stores and travel centers in the southern United States, announcing wages for full-time work ranging from $15 to $17 per hour for associates to $22 to $32 per hour for department leads. To American eyes, in most states, this sign is a unicorn of awesome hourly starting wages for “unskilled” labor.

To Australian eyes, these are the lowest wages they ever see in their country.

This is what I canu2019t wrap my head around. In Australia, I work at a shop assistant level, I make $27.91 per hour. I donu2019t have a degree and I barely graduated high school. Yet in America people are busting their ass for $9/ hour. Absolutely disgusting that itu2019s even allowed.

— Brett Klein (@Brett Klein)
1648682643

Despite Australia having a minimum wage of AU$20.33 ($15.23), most workers actually make more than that. In addition to its minimum wage, Australia has a system under its Fair Work Act called Modern Awards, which establishes base pay and benefits for workers in a variety of industries, from fast food to health and beauty to caregiving.

One caveat: Workers under age 21 can make less than minimum wage in Australia, so teenagers may make significantly lower wages than AU$20.33 per hour (though still not as low as $7.25 per hour). However, the Modern Awards system dictates higher than minimum wage earnings for most workers—even for basic fast-food jobs—for people over 21. For example, the starting pay for a Level 1 fast-food worker over age 21 is AU$22.33 ($16.72) per hour during the week, AU$27.91 ($20.90) per hour on Saturdays and Sundays, and AU$50.24 ($37.63) per hour on holidays.

Not too shabby.

Another Australian pointed out that the amount some Americans pay for a college education is bonkers, in addition to our low minimum wage.

Iu2019m in Australia, we accrue a u201cHECSdebtu201d that we pay off gradually once we earn above a certain pay bracket. Also we have higher minimum wage due to a strong union foundation. Even as a casual MH support worker I make $40/hour (no degree needed)

— amybroomstick (@amybroomstick)
1648679436

Australians graduate with less student loan debt than Americans, on average, and their student loan payments only start over a certain income threshold (and are linked to the amount you make).

Oh and let’s not forget that Australians don’t have to pay for healthcare out of their own pocket, either. And they have paid maternity leave of up to 18 weeks at the national minimum wage. And they have a minimum of four weeks of paid vacation time for all employees, on top of paid national hoildays.

But don’t Australians pay a much higher tax rate than Americans for these benefits, you may ask? No, not really. According to the Tax Foundation, a single worker earning an average wage in the U.S. pays an average tax rate of 28.3% while in Australia they pay an average of 28.4%—so basically the same tax burden, at least for single people with no kids.

It’s not that Australia is perfect, of course. But when it comes to paying people reasonable wages and guaranteeing paid time off and providing healthcare to all, they’re light years ahead of the U.S.

Rather than seeing it as a woe-is-us comparison, however, let’s look at it as “Hey, look at what’s possible!” We, too, could have wages people can actually live on and not go into bankruptcy over medical bills and ensure that everyone gets paid time off so they can actually relax a little. It doesn’t have to be some distant pipe dream; it’s a matter of collective and political will. If Australia can do it, there’s really no good reason we can’t, too.

(SPOILERS for this week’s Atlanta will be found below.)

In this week’s Atlanta episode, “The Old Man And The Tree,” the quartet that consists of Earn, Alfred aka Paper Boi, Darius, and Vanessa are finally together as one unit for the first time so far this season. The group is currently in London as a part of Paper Boi’s European tour. While Darius tags along as a friend, Earn is with them as he plays the role of Paper Boi’s manager. As for Vanessa, who was previously in a relationship with Earn and shares a child with him, she hopes to rediscover herself during the trip after failing to land a dream job.

In “The Old Man And The Tree,” Earn, Alfred (aka “Paper Boi”), Darius, and Vanessa stop by a house party that’s hosted by a wealthy investor named Will. Keeping in mind that this is an episode of Atlanta, you can expect that this night will be anything but normal as the group steps into the party. Over the course of the night, Earn is pressured into backing a not-so-talented artist; Darius is surrounded by an overwhelming amount of white guilt; Paper Boi loses $40,000 and nearly cuts down a tree; and Vanessa cause some chaos of her own, which is relatively small in comparison to everything else that goes on.

Here are some of the biggest questions we had after season three’s third episode.

Why Is Vanessa Pushing People Into A Pool And Stealing Art?

One might imagine that Vanessa feels a bit awkward hanging around the guys, but she’s doing somewhat okay so far. She and Earn, who have a daughter together, broke up towards the end of season two, and despite that, she’s around him more than ever thanks to Paper Boi’s tour. Upon entering the party, Vanessa snags a glass of champagne and wanders off on her own for the night. She accompanies Earn to look at some art by a not-so-talented young artist, but that’s after she steals a mini sculpture and before she pushes two fully-dressed people into a pool. When Earn inquires about the latter incident, she says it’s nothing more than her having a fun time at the party. However, Earn isn’t too convinced that things are well with Vanessa and he might have a good reason to think so.

What’s With All This White Guilt?

There’s a lot of white guilt in this episode. Take Socks’ excessive compassion towards Darius after his conversation with MK, where she incorrectly assumes that Darius is shooting his shot with her due to her experience with getting “hit on by Black men a lot” as a result of her time in Los Angeles where she says, “Black guys love Asian women.” Then there’s Socks’ decision to rally the troops and attack MK in Darius’ defense. Additionally, there’s Will’s insistence on generously supporting artists, like TJ, despite their questionable talents and his choice to call off his engagement with MK because “racialism drives me f*cking mad.” TJ later reveals that he’s taking full advantage of Will’s generousity and recommends that Earn do the same. The white people at the party have this excessively overflowing sympathy for the racism and disadvantages that Black people face. However, attacking a woman for her admittedly stereotype-driven, yet harmless comments, calling off an engagement with her, and investing $500,000 in a questionable project, leaves you to simply ask: “Why?”

Is This The End Of Darius And MK?

Aside from MK’s odd comments, she and Darius seemed to click well during their first conversation. At first, it seemed like their interaction would be their first and last one as MK reveals that she’s engaged to Will. However, after Will hears about what MK said to Darius, he breaks off the engagement in another example of over-the-top white guilt. When things go left for Paper Boi and Earn at the party, they rally the troops and run out of the party where we see MK sitting outside and crying. Darius tries to go over and comfort her, but he’s pulled away as the group needs to escape from the party due to some damage they’ve caused there. Theoretically, it would be on-brand for Darius to go on some dramatic and overzealous search to find MK again, so it would be no surprise if they reconnect later on in the season. There’s also the chance that it could all be forgotten the following morning, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

How Will Earn’s Business Venture With TJ and Will Pan Out?

Earn is not a fan of TJ’s art, but when he learns that the young artist is taking advantage of Will’s generosity, Earn decides to join in on the money-making opportunities. Earn pitches himself to be TJ’s manager, where he’ll take 25% of his profits (an amount he tricks Will into thinking is relatively miniscule). With the new deal in place, it leaves us to wonder if this will all work out. Will there ever be a point where Will catches on and realizes that he’s being ripped off? Or will he continue to be oblivious to it all? Furthermore, will Earn or TJ make any additional money from this and how long will this scheme last?

Will Paper Boi Get Ever The Money That Fernando Owes Him?

At the party, Paper Boi meets a man named Fernando, who introduces a very uninterested Paper Boi to his beloved tree. The two eventually decide to play a game of poker where the buy-in is $20,000. To his relief, Paper Boi wins the game, but not after enduring Fernando’s odd story about having a special interaction with a Black ghost that allegedly broke into his house. He expects to be paid $40,000 but Fernando runs off and disappears without paying him. After some failed attempts to play nice in order to get his money, Paper Boi decides to take a chainsaw to Fernando’s beloved tree. Paper Boi couldn’t have cared less for that tree, so it’s safe to say that the pursuit of his money is far from over. However, with an entire tour to continue, will Paper Boi have a chance to get his money back? And to what extent will go to get it?

Would You Save The Tree Or Lose $40,000?

You have to admit it: Fernando is not your average, stable, and typical rich guy. Or maybe he is, I’ll have to let you know when I get that kind of money and surround myself with the who’s who of some Forbes list. Anywho, Fernando owns a massive house that he seemingly lets anyone wander through and party in. He’s obsessed with a tree in his backyard and he admits to having a special interaction with a Black ghost. Despite his riches, he refuses to pay Paper Boi the money — $40,000 — he’s owed from winning the Poker game. Eventually, Paper Boi takes a chainsaw to his beloved tree in retailation and it leaves one to think: If he could go back, would Fernando pay up to save his tree or would he do the same thing again? Fernando is a rich man and $40,000 to him is probably equivalent to us paying our phone bills, so you would think that time he’d just fork over the cash. Then again, Fernando is also quite the eccentric man, so there may out-of-this-world reason he has for not paying up. Nonetheless, the tree did nothing to deserve this, and Fernando should be ashamed of himself.

FX’s ‘Atlanta’ airs on Thursdays at 10:00pm EST.

The Philadelphia 76ers slipped back to fourth in the East on Thursday night with a rather hideous loss on the road to the Detroit Pistons. While Detroit has been feisty of late, led by Cade Cunningham starting to put the pieces together, it wasn’t a game the Sixers should be losing at full strength, particularly after taking a six-point lead in the fourth quarter.

On their way to the loss, the Sixers allowed a 23-2 fourth quarter run from Detroit, as the Pistons ran away with the game thanks to some dreadful offensive execution from Philadelphia. After a first half in which they dominated at the free throw line, the Sixers scored just 40 second half points including a 15-point fourth quarter, with James Harden once again struggling mightily from the field, going 4-of-15 from the floor for 18 points in the loss, as he simply didn’t give Joel Embiid (37 points and 15 rebounds) enough support.

There was plenty of discussion about the Sixers’ bench not providing enough, as they combined for eight points on 12 shots in the game, which was well below the Pistons’ bench effort of 39 points. However, after the game Doc Rivers wasn’t interested in shifting blame to his reserves and instead pointed to Harden’s struggles as being a much bigger issue, noting the bench didn’t have that many shot attempts.

Rivers would also add that he wasn’t happy with the offense’s movement overall in the game, in either half, and noted they haven’t felt like they’ve been playing together well of late.

These are certainly eyebrow raising comments with just six games remaining this season, and it’s clear Rivers is trying to get something more out of Harden as they get ready for the postseason. The question is whether Harden’s response will be what he’s seeking, or if this will only further the Sixers’ apparent chemistry issues heading into the playoffs.