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We’re heading into year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’re all ready to be done. That doesn’t mean we are done, of course. The virus and its various mutations don’t give a flying fig how we feel, and with a new variant knocking on our door, we’re still knee deep in mitigation measures to try to keep our healthcare system from sinking. That means vaccines, limiting group gatherings and, of course, masking in public places.

It’s hard to believe that there are still anti-maskers at this point in a viral pandemic, but here we are. And not only do some of these folks not want to wear masks, they don’t even want to see people wearing masks.

A mom on Twitter even went so far as to call out the popular children’s magazine Highlights for including illustrations that show children wearing masks. Bethany Mandel shared a photo of a page of the magazine that showed a child playing the piano on a stage and kids in the audience behind the piano wearing masks. She also shared the email she sent to the editor of the magazine.

My email to the editor of @Highlightspic.twitter.com/U1BzVoabpv

— Bethany S. Mandel (@Bethany S. Mandel)
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“Stop with the mask illustrations,” the subject line reads before the blunt opening, “Christine.” (Christine French Cully is the magazine’s editor-in-chief. I recall being taught to address professionals in a business letter with a bit more courtesy, but perhaps Mrs. Mandel’s education omitted such things.)

Then she voiced her complaint:

“I understand the objective here: to normalize masking young children. That is not a message I’m sending to my kids. Masks are a temporary situation and on their way out the door. Getting these magazines with mask illustrations is a reminder of the broken world we live in. We get your magazine to be an escape, not a reminder of the reality we’re forced to be living right now. I am planning to screen future issues, and if more of this content is present, we will be trashing them and canceling our subscription.

Best

Bethany Mandel”

If you think the complaint seems rather asinine considering we’ve been wearing masks for two years, you’re not alone. Many, many snarky comments followed, but Highlights responded with what is probably the most perfect reaction.

We want our readers to see themselves and their experiences in our magazines, so we’ve included masks and acknowledgements of the pandemic to help support kids. As one child wrote to us, u201cKids need to know that they are not alone.u201d Like you, we hope that this will be over soon.

— Highlights (@Highlights)
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In a tweet, Highlights wrote:

“We want our readers to see themselves and their experiences in our magazines, so we’ve included masks and acknowledgements of the pandemic to help support kids. As one child wrote to us, ‘Kids need to know that they are not alone.’ Like you, we hope that this will be over soon.”

Simple, straightforward and honest. Including a quote from a child reader was a beautiful move, as was creating a sense of solidarity in the last line.

Mandel may think her kids want a magazine that will let them escape reality, but that’s not what Highlights has ever been about. It’s about helping kids become “creative, caring, curious, and confident.” Part of being caring during a pandemic is wearing a mask to protect others. Part of being confident is dealing with challenges head-on, which is what we’re doing when we listen to infectious disease experts and follow their advice.

Seeing reality reflected in an illustration is not going to harm kids. Masks are not evidence of a broken world—they are evidence of our collective efforts to mitigate a deadly pandemic. If anything, they are symbols of hope, of humans doing what they can to protect one another.

So much of this comes down to what we are choosing to teach our kids. My own kids have remarked more than once how happy they are to see people wearing masks at stores, how it makes them feel like they’re surrounded by people who care and who are smart enough to follow the guidance of public health experts. Nobody likes wearing masks, but we understand why they’re necessary.

We all want this to be over. But that won’t happen if people keep ignoring the measures that can help us get there and denying the reality of where we are now.

In a new study that most dog lovers can probably confirm, owning a canine companion has been shown to “significantly” improve mental health during the pandemic. The survey polled current dog owners and potential dog owners, and what it found is that the current owners were less likely to be depressed and had a more positive outlook while navigating COVID restrictions.

“Dog owners reported having significantly more social support available to them compared to potential dog owners, and their depression scores were also lower, compared to potential dog owners,” according to Dr. Francois Martin of Nestle Purina Research. Via Study Finds:

“Dog owners had a significantly more positive attitude towards and commitment to pets. Taken together, our results suggest that dog ownership may have provided people with a stronger sense of social support, which in turn may have helped buffer some of the negative psychological impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers report.

The report also cited dog walking as a stress-reliever and a source of “motivated self-care” as new variants of the coronavirus continue to prolong restrictions such as social distancing and remote work/schooling, which can be mentally taxing to navigate. But with a canine buddy creating the need to step away for a trip around the block, we can definitely see how having a dog around can be the self-care push people need during these unusual times. Plus, dogs are great to snuggle with while watching Netflix. That’s gotta be a factor, too.

(Via Study Finds)

Plenty of rappers love to celebrate Christmas and get into the holiday spirit. After all, what’s more hip-hop than flaunting your wealth while giving back to others? But perhaps no one has delivered a holiday-themed rap video that’s as committed to the bit as NLE Choppa’s “Drop Sh*t” video. The Memphis rapper, born Bryson Lashun Potts, is a “ratchet santa,” doling out gifts and decorating his tree with bills and guns — hey, no one can say he didn’t lean into the role. He’s already been known to treat friends to lavish gifts, like in his “Mmm Hmm” video, and he’s picked up a few heavy-hitting friends of his own along the way, like 50 Cent, whose show, Power, NLE recently contributed to the theme song for — along with Rileyy Lanez.

NLE was just another teen rapper from Tennessee, until he popped off last year with viral hits like “Shotta Flow” and “Camelot.” Since his big breakout, he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, releasing the Cottonwood EP at the top of 2020 and a series of other collaborations and one-off singles throughout 2021. This holiday moment might just be the cherry on top of a breakout year for him. Check it out above.

Ever since rap’s inception, hip-hop and Christmas have gone together like bows and wrapping paper, but occasionally the combination can result in some unsettling pairings. After all, rap music often traffics in sexual or violent content that clashes horribly with the family-friendly environment the Yuletide season has come to represent. However, sometimes, it’s just really funny. Case in point: Jucee Froot‘s raunchy “Christmas List” video, in which she cosplays a sexy Grinch (I can’t believe I typed that either, gang), right down to the fuzzy fingers as her scantily-clad team of reindeer dancers frolics around a Christmas tree.

Her daughter’s also in the video, which lends another layer of heightened absurdism to the proceedings as Jucee reels off a Christmas list that will probably not only land her on the naughty list, but also send Santa to the doghouse for a week should Mrs. Claus peek over his shoulder while reading it. Imagine how bad Saint Nick’s back is going to hurt having to carry all those presents after sleeping on the couch. Shame on you, Jucee. Shaaame.

In all seriousness, though, fans of the unapologetic Memphis rapper have been patiently waiting for the follow-up to her debut album Black Sheep for over a year (just like kids on Christmas!), so this tidbit is a tantalizing appetizer that will hopefully presage some new music come the new year.

Watch Jucee Froot’s holiday-themed “Christmas List” video above.

The PDC World Darts Championship is back in full swing across the pond. Each year, 96 of the best darts players alive head to Alexandra Palace in London to earn the title of the world’s best, and while the best stuff usually happens later on in the tournament when the lesser-regarded players have been eliminated, an absolutely scintillating match between Scotland’s Willie Borland and England’s Bradley Brooks ended in the most dramatic way possible.

The pair of unseeded youngsters needed a fifth and final set in their first to 3 match to determine who would move on to play 15th seeded Ryan Searle. Both played well all game, and after Borland jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the leg, Brooks battled back to force a deciding fifth leg.

There, we got one of the coolest sports moments of 2021. Borland did not just register an ultra-rare nine-dart finish — which signifies that a player cleared the board in as few darts as possible in a game of 501 — he became the first player in the history of the tournament to have one in a match-winning situation.

Again, nine-darters are darts’ version of a perfect inning in baseball, so to get one at any point in a match is as rare as it gets. But to get it in this fashion is legitimately unprecedented. As a result, the Ally Pally exploded, and Borland got to say he won the match of the tournament.

As she gears up for the release of her debut album in 2022, Coi Leray has been stacking up the singles in a very busy 2021. The New Jersey rapper has been living up to the “next up” moniker with cuts like the TikTok hit “No More Parties” remix with Lil Durk, “At The Top” with Kodak Black and Mustard, and even a holiday remix of “Twinnem.”

Now she’s dropped her final single of the year in “Medicine” and the accompanying video. Produced by Emrld, LeRay uses the quick-hitting 80-second song to open up about the anxiety and depression that she’s felt despite becoming incredibly successful in a short time. She slides into the frenetic beat and bares her emotions. Leray shared a personal statement with fans on her Instagram stories about the song:

“Kind of been a rough year, even though I made millions, it came with a lot of depression. “Medicine” is the last song ima drop this year. This song is strictly for my fans. When I go in the booth and vent, just know I’m speaking from the heart and I meant every word in the song. Hope everyone has a great holiday and gets everything they ever dreamed of. This new year is going to be one of the biggest years of my life. I feel it. My album is going to be one of the biggest female artist albums in the world, I can promise you that. Xoxo -Coi”

Check out the video for “Medicine” above.

As the prison sentences for January 6 rioters continue to be handed out following the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol building in an insurrectionist effort to overturn the 2020 election, Robert Palmer of Tampa, Florida has officially landed the lengthiest jail term yet. After being picked up in March, Palmer was identified as one of the more aggressive rioters who repeatedly assaulted officers responding to the chaos that ensued from Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. Palmer’s actions have earned him five years in prison.

Via NBC News:

Prosecutors said he threw a wooden plank the police, then picked up a fire extinguisher and sprayed its contents at a line of officers, throwing the canister at them after it was empty.

A few minutes later, prosecutors said, he picked up the fire extinguisher and threw it at them a second time and assaulted another group of officers with a metal pole, throwing it like a spear. He stopped the attack when an officer shot him in the abdomen with a rubber bullet.

Palmer was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkin, who according to Rolling Stone, has felt that sentencing for the Capitol rioters has been too lenient. “There have to be consequences for participating in an attempted violent overthrow of the government beyond sitting at home,” Chutkin said back in October.

However, if Palmer had a chance at a lighter sentence it went up in smoke after he reportedly claimed on his fundraising website that his actions during the January 6 riot were out of “self-defense.” He had previously taken responsibility for his actions and pleaded guilty in court. As the judge noted in Palmer’s sentencing, this called into question the sincerity of him saying he’s “really, really ashamed of what I did.”

(Via NBC News, Rolling Stone)

Rolling Stone reports that in the wake of the Astroworld Festival tragedy earlier this year, concert promoter Live Nation strong-armed Astroworld’s staff into signing liability waivers or risk not getting paid. According to an email acquired by Rolling Stone, just hours after 9-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest of the festival’s 10 victims, was reported dead from injuries sustained in the crowd crush during Travis Scott’s headlining set, Live Nation had sent part-time employees a revised employment contract promising not to sue Live Nation or its Scoremore subsidiary. However, two security guards have already done so, suggesting that not everyone signed the documents.

The original contract was the same one from the 2018 festival, even still bearing the year of the fest’s inauguration at the top. However, the new ones sent on November 15 amended the error, claiming that the employees would need it to receive their $7.50/hour paychecks for tasks like checking wristbands. The new contracts’ text was duplicated in Rolling Stone:

(Employee) assumes full responsibility for any injuries or damages that may occur to the (employee) in, on or about the festival and its premises and fully and forever releases and discharges the released parties from any and all claims, demands, damages, rights of action or causes of action resulting from or arising out of the (employee’s) attending and or providing services at the festival.

The amended contracts also denied employees medical coverage or other benefits, including workers’ compensation. According to the employee who brought the email to Rolling Stone‘s attention, “It was a free for all. I saw a girl trying to run through. She got crushed. I saw kids getting knocked out. It definitely felt like there wasn’t nearly enough security to contain the rush of the fans.” There’s also a pretty harrowing firsthand account of the chaos during Travis’ closing set that frankly, sounds terrifying.

Both Live Nation and Travis Scott have denied liability in the dozens of lawsuits filed by survivors and victims’ families, despite reports that Travis had continued performing long after the concert was declared a mass casualty event.

You can read Rolling Stone’s full report here.

Photographer and director Lauren Dunn remembers the exact moment when she fell in love with film.

“One of the distinct memories I have of my childhood is sneaking downstairs to watch Titanic through the banisters of my staircase as my parents watched it,” she tells UPROXX. “I was six or seven.”

Too young, perhaps, to fully appreciate the classic romantic epic, but old enough to understand that the art form and the stories it could tell would always be a part of her life. “That movie just really captured my heart. My mom actually caught me and the next day allowed me to watch some of the scenes, anything that wasn’t too risqué. So I had a really fun upbringing, just surrounded by movies and stories.”

Dunn quickly fell in love with photography too, though that was more her grandmother’s doing. Dunn recalls always having a camera in her hand when she was young and snapping pics of anything that caught her eye.

“It’s where my love of film and story and photography kind of overlap,” she explains. “I felt like they sort of feed into each other and inspire different parts of my work.”

She started taking acting classes, thinking that was the traditional path into the moviemaking business, but soon realized she loved setting up scenes and directing her fellow actors more than she enjoyed reading lines. She took side gigs in college, assisting producers on set and helping friends pull together scrappy music video shoots. It wasn’t until a university professor suggested she go all in toward her filmmaking passion that her future career came into focus, though.

“I felt like a fish out of water,” Dunn says of that first year attending USC School of Cinematic Arts, noting that most of her fellow students had more experience and a surer idea of what form their art would take from an earlier age. “All these teachers must have known something I didn’t at the time,” she continues. “Seeing my passion, I think that’s at the heart of all — my passion for people and for story. Even the way I approach photography, I like to really get to know somebody through the image, whether that’s composing or staging it; whether it’s sort of a dreamy approach to getting to know them or a really raw documentary-style approach. Either way, it’s about getting to know somebody or getting to know a character.”

Dunn often felt like she was playing catch-up in those early years so she said “yes” to every opportunity that came her way — handling incoming pitches at an entertainment management company, and assisting showrunners on TV sets. Despite the full calendar, it was hard to shake the nagging feeling of imposter syndrome.

“Rather than trusting that I have an eye and an instinct, that I know what I’m doing, I was like, ‘I’m so lucky I got these,’” she says of her thinking back then. “So that fear of failure and having people recognize my eye before I could pushed me to really learn. That’s a really healthy part of my art practice — trying things, improvising, having a plan, and then also knowing when to not stick to it.”

Dunn’s worked with everyone, directing music videos and shooting campaigns for Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Megan Thee Stallion, and more. She just wrapped her first short documentary with Amazon Music. More narrative-focused projects and high-profile photography campaigns might be on the horizon.

“It’s finding those bigger, inspiring projects, whether that be making a film or making another documentary or shooting an incredible meaningful fashion campaign,” she says of her career benchmarks. “Things that shift culture, that’s the goal. I have a lot of work to do to get to that place and I’m ready for it. I’m excited.”

When she thinks of where her directorial efforts might end up, she draws inspiration from “jack-of-all-trade” types that have an enviable amount of creative control over every project they sign up for.

“Those are the artists I aspire to be,” she confirms. “[They] never get put in a box. And I think that’s so cool. So that’s what I aspire to… making my own box.”

That drive to carve out her own niche within the industry is what solidified her spot as one of The Next 9 by Porsche, a line-up of rising talents putting their own stamp on their artistry, no matter the genre. Dunn says being recognized by the brand is just further confirmation that she’s on the right path.

“It’s truly humbling,” she says before joking, “My madness is paying off!”

Then, she goes quiet, pausing to offer up a deeper reflection of how the recognition feels, and how her creative drive matches the essence of a legacy steeped in innovation. If Porsche has crafted a reputation that rests on the balance between luxury and utility, Dunn is hoping to find a balance of her own in her filmmaking career.

“I aspire to find a beautiful balance of living and making art in a way that my experiences and my personal life can influence it,” she explains. “The travel I do can find a home in the stories I want to tell. I aspire to never let things cloud my life. It’s a hard balance to strike, especially when you’re constantly striving to reach another level, but that sort of unconventional approach is hopefully going to inspire other people to do the same.”

(WARNING: Spider-Man: No Way Home spoilers will be found below.)

(For real, you have been warned.)

Spider-Man: No Way Home has officially been in theaters for about 24 hours, and since it’s still the workweek for a lot of people, a lot of fans will undoubtedly wait until the weekend (although Thursday night previews were $50 million strong already). So, Twitter is currently a minefield even though Sony and a legion fans already banded together to beg people not to spoil this thing.

Since you’ve seen this movie already, you obviously know that there was some real fan service when it came to this meme:

Yep, they did the thing with not only Tom Holland but Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. And that’s something that fans should not have spoiled for them in any way. Sony was serious, too, when they tweeted, “NO SPOILERS. Don’t be that person,” Sony tweeted. “If you want to be extra safe, stop reading comments, mute keywords, and start staying off social media today! Watch #SpiderManNoWayHome to find out what happens for yourself when the movie hits theaters Thursday!”

So, it was kind-of awkward when The Academy tweeted, “Three generations of Peter Parker…our friendly neighborhood Spider-Men” with this visual aid. Granted, this is not truly a spoiler, and it will only look like a potential spoiler by people who have seen the movie. It’s not at all as though The Academy shouted, “Hey look, three Spideys in one multiverse-afflicted movie together!”

Yep, no spoiler, and the tweet could simply be interpreted as a nod to MCU greatness. However, it’s still kinda messy, and people pushed back.

https://twitter.com/rubenbagaskara/status/147186673958756761

Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently playing in theaters.