Katie Ray

The Road Less Traveled. We take a road trip with actor (and lover of the outdoors) David Corenswet along the California coast. From Point Reyes to Goat Rock Beach, discover the place where our spirit of adventure began, dressed in premium wool sweaters, suede jackets, and shearling-lined leather, crafted to weather the elements.

 

 

 

 

[Photo Credit: Sonia Szostak/Courtesy of Banana Republic]

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The post SUPERMAN Star David Corenswet for Banana Republic’s ‘October Edit’ Ad Campaign appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

Earlier this month we talked about work restaurant meals gone wrong, and here are 12 of my favorite stories you shared.

1. The mistaken identity

I (F) was in my mid-30s and traveling to work with a client. He had set up a dinner that should have included five or six of us on the project. Everyone backed out except me, which is how I found myself at a cozy, fireside table for two at a dark but excellent Boston restaurant, drinking a glass of champagne. (I was in my bubbles era…) And who should happen to be dining there but his wife’s cousin, who barged up to the table wanting to know why he was sipping bubbly with me rather than hanging out at home with his extremely pregnant wife. Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe it.

2. The tomato sauce

I once worked at an English language school. The owner was from Brazil and hired a Brazilian woman she knew to cook for the faculty and staff every day. It was mostly a way to pay someone in her community, but the woman always made phenomenal food.

At this stage in my life, I knew next to nothing about Brazilian culture or food. On my second or third day, I went into the breakroom and saw a crockpot of what looked like tomato soup next to some lovely, inviting rolls of fresh bread. I excitedly ladled some of the crockpot contents into a bowl, grabbed a spoon, and sat down with some of my new coworkers (who had just finished eating). I was chattering away, eating my lunch by the spoonful and occasionally dipping in pieces of bread. I noticed that my coworkers were growing silent and some were looking at me a bit awkwardly.

Finally, one of them turned to our cook and said, “Ana, this is so phenomenal, I think I’m going to get seconds!” She then went over to the crockpot … and I realized, to my utter horror, that the crockpot contained meatballs in tomato sauce and the rolls were for making meatball subs. And I had just spent the past 15 minutes sitting there eating tomato sauce with a spoon like a deranged person.

3. The Arnold Palmers

A new salesperson at my husband’s office took a client to lunch. The client ordered an Arnold Palmer to drink. Thinking he should match the energy of the client, the salesperson ordered a Red Bull and vodka. Every time the client got a fresh drink, so did the salesperson. When asked why he was inebriated after a work lunch, he explained the situation to my husband, who in turn explained to him what an Arnold Palmer was. (For those who don’t know, it’s half lemonade and half iced tea.) Lesson learned. Not sure if he got the account, but he certainly made an impression!

4. The cheese bread

I worked for a shoestring budget faith-based nonprofit that decided to do a year-long competition where the prize was a paid meal at a Brazilian steakhouse. I went, but we did not get plus-one’s. My very pregnant wife was jealous because she loves the cheese bread they serve at Brazilian steakhouses. So I put two gallon-size plastic bags in my backpack, stuffed it under the table, and every time the server reloaded a bread basket, I dumped the whole thing into my bag. I came home a hero.

The dinner was also attended by two young right-out-of-college intern men who were sharing a crappy apartment and living off ramen because they made so little. I have never seen two people absolutely gorge like those two did. I think they were getting their calories for the next two weeks.

5. The electric bagpipe machine

At a farewell dinner for a beloved colleague, my company was taking up about half the restaurant. The retired founder of our company decided it would be appropriate to bring out and start up his ELECTRIC BAGPIPE MACHINE, which is a box that basically sounds like a theramin in a kilt. Everyone in the restaurant, including most of us, thought some kind of deranged fire alarm was going off. He then proceeded to distribute handouts with lyrics of comic song he’d written to the tune of the Skye Boat Song about events on a work away-weekend from before most of us worked at the company (and before I was born), and expected us all to sing along with the machine. All the poor normal people who’d just wanted a nice restaurant dinner were staring at us, and I wanted to die.

6. The hibachi place

When I was a newly hired, my new group had a welcome lunch at a hibachi place, similar to Benihana, where the server cooks your food in front of you and puts on a show while doing so. The server called me “sexy lady” and squirted saki directly into people’s mouths. It was awkward and weird. Thankfully the group otherwise had normal standards of professionalism but it was a very weird first impression. That restaurant was to go to for group lunches for years.

7. The conversion

A business dinner actually made me vegetarian. Early in my career, I was connected via networking to a really nice and helpful woman who helped me get an internship at her company. The week before the internship started, she invited me out for drinks and sushi with a few coworkers and outgoing interns so I could hear more about the company and get a heard start on introductions. Super nice!

At the time, I didn’t eat fish (just because I didn’t like the taste) and when the waiter came around to me, I ordered the veggie roll. The woman who invited me turned excitedly to me and said, “Oh, are you a vegetarian too??” In my early-20s eagerness to please and desire to connect further with this really, really nice person, I panicked and said, “Yes!”

Not only was this a weird white lie, my internship at her company started the next week so I was also locking myself into living this lie by bringing vegetarian lunches and eating vegetarian at company events for at least the next four months. This actually turned out surprisingly fine – and I’ve now been vegetarian for eight years.

8. The small amount of tapas

I worked at a company that wanted to be a luxury fashion brand. They announced an all-staff party at a very posh tapas place on the beach, a few hours away from the office. The party was mandatory, so they rented buses to drive the entire company (70+ people) to the restaurant. We had an entire floor to ourselves, which included a beautiful view of the sun slowly setting over the ocean. Five hours of beachside views, appetizers, and quiet chat – what could go wrong?

Somehow, the plates of appetizers ordered ahead of time were not party-sized, but tapas-sized. So “a plate of mini eclairs” meant “two eclairs on a tiny plate.” The executive team ate all the appetizers before they got to anyone else before realizing that, no, that little plate with a single mini quiche on it was the only one coming out. The waitstaff also didn’t bring water to anyone except the executive team, because it was the restaurant’s policy that only diners got water and they were the only ones who ate.

People asked if they could order their own dishes and pay for them on their own, but were repeatedly told no by both the waitstaff and the head of HR. People started wandering around and attempting to leave to get food elsewhere but were dragged back by head of HR. We were all forced to sit at a single long table, without moving from our seats, without food or water, for the rest of the party.

At hour 4, the waitstaff brought out three small baskets of those dry boxed breadsticks. To their credit, all the managers at the section of the table I sat at made sure their staff ate breadsticks first before they did, so the managers ate nothing. Executive staff did get a single breadstick each. This was not considered sufficient enough dining for the waitstaff to bring us water.

I must have looked crazy to the guy who walked into the bathroom and saw me drinking from the bathroom sink before the bus ride.

No one spoke to each other on the hours-long bus ride home.

9. The boor

We were a very social office of about eight people and had two new starters in the same week. One of the new starters had made a couple of comments about being frugal before the meal, but none of us thought anything much about it.

Until it came to paying and leaving. Being the highest paid person there, after everyone had paid for what they had, I left a tip.

The new starter grabbed my arm with dismay and shock as we got up from the table to inform me that I’d left some money behind. I had to explain to a guy in his 30s what tipping was.

10. The rice

At my first day of my first adult job, my boss took me out to lunch. She was an extremely proper, middle-aged woman who I never saw laugh but she was still very kind. We went to a local Thai restaurant, and she asked me a question as I was eating. I finished my bite and began to respond, but a rogue piece of rice shot out of my mouth and ONTO HER PLATE. She blinked, remained unfazed, and then when she took her next bite just gently pushed my single piece of feral rice to the side of her plate.

11. The knife attack

When I worked in B2B services, we’d flown out to work directly with our most difficult client at their office for a few days, and they took us out for dinner at a fancy steakhouse. When the waiter brought us steak knives, he managed to fumble mine and drop it in such a way that it landed, point down, on my foot. I was wearing ballet flats so that part of my foot was completely unprotected and I straight up got shanked in the foot. It wasn’t so bad I needed urgent care or anything but it was bad enough that it was sore and needed to be kept covered for multiple days.

The waiter looked like he was about to throw up due to shame/horror so I reassured him that it was okay, but I was either too reassuring or not reassuring enough because after that he just kind of pretended it didn’t happen? I had to flag down a different waiter to ask for a bandaid so I didn’t bleed on the restaurant floor. I kind of expected them to at least comp my dessert or something, but nope! Which, no skin off my nose financially because the client was paying, but I did low key feel entitled to at least a scoop of ice cream in compensation for being stabbed in the foot.

12. The dark dinner

The owners of our franchise would throw a small holiday dinner for the higher level managers every Christmas (there was also a full staff one, a bit later). So, one year they decided to mix it up and, instead of the usual place, took us to an uptown steakhouse.

The food was fine, but the whole place was dark. We were at a table where you could see the person across and next to you, there was one candle for every two people (think 14 people), and that was it, with some light from the windows. People were pulling out their phones to read the menu, conversations were stilted because you couldn’t see the people at the ends of table, the waiters were carrying a small lamp on every tray, and the various appetizers that were ordered for the table were basically just put down in one place and no way to get it if it was more then a person down. It wasn’t a light outage of some kind, it was just they were used to two-people tables and kind of shoved our group into a section that was mainly used for displaying seasonal items through the windows.

The gifts that the owners handed out were passed out by an owner walking around the table to find the person it went to since they couldn’t see them from the head of the table.

Next year it was back at the usual cafe.

The post the mistaken identity, the electric bagpipe machine, and other work restaurant meals gone wrong appeared first on Ask a Manager.

A great look at how Baltimore’s investment in an “ecosystem of community–oriented interventions” has drastically reduced violent crime in the city by treating crime as a public health crisis.

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. If I opt out of team-building activities, I still have to work on those days

I work for a small nonprofit with about 25 employees. Recently, we have begun “employee engagement” activities, like visiting local attractions. These activities take place during work hours. We are not forced to participate, but if we choose not to, then we are expected to work while those who do want to participate are basically paid to hang out at a local attraction, restaurant, etc.

I don’t enjoy these kinds of group activities, but I’m not trying to keep anyone from going if they wish to. I don’t mind staying at work, but I am expected to cover for another employee (who always chooses to do the engagement activities) instead of being able to do my own work. Am I just a party pooper or is it weird for some employees to be paid to goof off while others are being paid to work? Am I wrong to think I shouldn’t have to cover for someone else when no other employee is expected to do that?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable. They’re offering these activities because they believe they serve an organizational purpose: team-building. If you prefer not to participate, you don’t have to (which is actually better than at some organizations, where you’d be expected to attend regardless) — but they’re not going to just give you a day off, because that doesn’t provide any value to the org.

That said, if covering for people who aren’t there means you have an unrealistic workload that day, you should talk with your manager about adjusting the expectations to match the staffing on those days. But if it’s more just about being annoyed by the principle of it, you should let it go.

2. My boss has hired my replacement but I’m not ready to leave

I am actively looking for a new job and communicated this intent to my bosses as we have an open communication relationship. As is their right, they started to look for my replacement, which they found and have since hired. I am still actively looking for a job and have given no notice of my intended departure date. What are the obligations to me of my current employer given that I have not quit my job and there is someone we are on-boarding right now for my job?

For a relationship with open communication, it doesn’t sound like there’s nearly enough communication going on! (Or at least not unless there’s been a lot more discussion of this than what’s in your letter.) You need to talk to your manager and you should do it right away. They may be assuming you’re leaving any day now … or they may assume it’ll be months and figure it’s fine for there to be overlap for that time … or they may be okay with a little overlap but at some point are going to expect you to set a clear end date or will do it for you.

When you alerted them that you were planning to leave, they may have jumped the gun — but this is also why it generally doesn’t make sense to alert your boss that you’re job-searching until you’re ready to give notice or at least have a very clear timeline in your head. Your manager should have clarified that with you before they hired a replacement! But it seems like they didn’t, so here we are. Now that this is in motion, they can set your ending date for any time they want, so talk with them ASAP and figure out a plan for what happens next. Be very clear that you don’t have any firm plans, had not intended to give formal notice, and don’t want to leave right away. Ideally they won’t respond to your early heads-up by pushing you out sooner than you want to go … but there’s a risk that’s in progress and so the sooner you figure it out, the better.

Related:
employee said she was leaving and has been replaced, but now doesn’t know when she is going to leave

3. How to implement a policy I don’t agree with

I am the deputy lead for my department. I manage 13 people directly, and two of those people are managers themselves, each with a team of three. The team works a hybrid schedule, with most people choosing to work from home once or twice a week. There are no set days; we have a lot of flexibility. All staff have laptops and other required equipment at home.

My company has a policy that when office PCs reach the end of their lifespan, they will not be replaced. Instead, staff will be given a docking station and are expected to use their work laptops at home and in the office. This policy was announced a couple of years ago, but this is a large company (~20,000 staff) and it seems my predecessor did not inform the team at the time as it didn’t impact them. Now I have been told that our office PCs are end of life and we will be getting docking stations soon.

My team are livid! For example, those with chronic health conditions can currently choose to work from home if their condition flares up. But if their laptop is in the office, they won’t be able to work from home. They have also questioned what happens during bad weather when they cannot get to the office, but cannot work from home because the laptop is in the office. I have raised this with the department manager and his answer was that they will have to take the laptops home each day and bring them back the next day if working in the office.

My team doesn’t want to carry laptops back and forth every day, especially those who walk or cycle. They have raised concerns about whether they are responsible for the equipment on their commute, what happens if it gets broken or stolen, and if they won’t be able to go out and socialize after work as they will be lugging a laptop around. I agree with all these concerns! I have raised them with the manager, who said that staff are responsible for keeping equipment safe. He also said this is company policy and we have to follow it.

How do I navigate this when I agree with my staff? What language can I use to say I hear you, I agree with you, but we have no choice? Or should I be taking a difference stance and projecting to the team that I agree wholeheartedly with this?

“I agree and I’ve made that argument, but unsuccessfully. So for now this is the policy and we do need to follow it.” You don’t need to pretend you disagree with them, but it’s also not helpful to contribute to people staying in a state of agitation about it. You want more of a middle ground — “it’s not what I would have chosen, but at this point we don’t have the ability to change it, so let’s figure out how to work within it.”

(That said, can you at least argue for keeping the PCs until they truly can’t be used anymore? I can’t tell if they’re removing them all when the docking stations arrive, but if they are, that might be a spot where you have room to change things.)

Related:
how managers should communicate decisions they don’t agree with

4. Fixing grammar and spelling mistakes

I’m a leader of a medium-sized team in technology in a large, corporate environment. We’re in the U.S. but for a lot of team members English is their second language. When I see spelling and grammar mistakes in presentations that I’m reviewing, is it better to quickly fix it myself (easy to do and quick, although not the point of why I’m reviewing as I’m more focused on the content) or leave a comment (which feels nitpicky and takes longer but maybe that will help them learn)? Or do nothing? I do not judge their performance based on what is clearly a language barrier, but I also want their writing to be clear and easy to understand for their audience.

The main job duties are not writing but in a large company, we make a lot of slides and more so as you move up in leadership.

It’s a judgment call. All else being equal, I’d fix it and leave a quick, matter-of-fact note about what you did (like “changed ’there’ to ’their’” or so forth) but if there will be a lot of those sorts of edits in a single document, I’d just fix them all and then include one note with feedback about any common patterns if you saw any and if it seems like it would be helpful.

If what you’re reviewing is in a format that allows for something like Track Changes, that’s ideal but not always possible.

5. Companies that don’t provide offer letters

I’m interviewing with multiple companies and received a verbal offer via phone call from one company. Typically, I’m used to this being followed up by a formal electronic offer letter. The hiring manager indicated that is not the case, and that the details of the phone call are the offer letter. I mentioned this to another employer who I’m in a last interview round with, and they informed me that this is how it’s done at their company as well.

I am very experienced in my field, and I can vouch for the legitimacy of these companies and interviewers. This is the first time I’m working without a formal offer letter since the early 2000s. Have standards changed?

Nope, there have always been companies that don’t send written offer letters. It seems strange when you’re used to getting them, but it’s always been a thing.

You can absolutely say, “Would it be possible to get the details of the offer — salary, benefits, title, and any other relevant information — in an email so I can look it over and be sure I’m getting all the details correct?” Alternately, you can write that email yourself and send it to them, framing it as, “I just want to summarize the details we’ve discussed.”

Related:
an employer told me they don’t provide written offers

The post I still have to work if I don’t attend team-building, boss has hired my replacement but I’m not ready to leave, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

From The Verge: Meta abandons fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in favor of Community Notes.

Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are ditching third-party fact-checkers in favor of a Community Notes program inspired by X, according to an announcement penned by Meta’s new Trump-friendly policy chief Joel Kaplan. Meta is also moving its trust and safety teams from California to Texas.

Here is Mark Zuckerberg’s thread about the announcement:

It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression and giving people voice on our platforms. Here’s what we’re going to do:

1/ Replace fact-checkers with Community Notes, starting in the US.

2/ Simplify our content policies and remove restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse.

3/ Change how we enforce our policies to remove the vast majority of censorship mistakes by focusing our filters on tackling illegal and high-severity violations and requiring higher confidence for our filters to take action.

4/ Bring back civic content. We’re getting feedback that people want to see this content again, so we’ll phase it back into Facebook, Instagram and Threads while working to keep the communities friendly and positive.

5/ Move our trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, and our US content review to Texas. This will help remove the concern that biased employees are overly censoring content.

6/ Work with President Trump to push back against foreign governments going after American companies to censor more. The US has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world and the best way to defend against the trend of government overreach on censorship is with the support of the US government.

It’ll take time to get this all right and these are complex systems so they’ll never be perfect. But this is an important step forward and I’m looking forward to this next chapter!

I wildly underestimated how quickly the big media and social media companies were going to kowtow to the incoming president. From The NY Times:

Meta’s move is likely to please the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump and its conservative allies, many of whom have disliked Meta’s practice of adding disclaimers or warnings to questionable or false posts. Mr. Trump has long railed against Mr. Zuckerberg, claiming the fact-checking feature treated posts by conservative users unfairly.

Since Mr. Trump won a second term in November, Meta has moved swiftly to try to repair the strained relationships he and his company have with conservatives.

Mr. Zuckerberg noted that “recent elections” felt like a “cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.”

In late November, Mr. Zuckerberg dined with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where he also met with his secretary of state pick, Marco Rubio. Meta donated $1 million to support Mr. Trump’s inauguration in December. Last week, Mr. Zuckerberg elevated Mr. Kaplan, a longtime conservative and the highest-ranking Meta executive closest to the Republican Party, to the company’s most senior policy role. And on Monday, Mr. Zuckerberg announced that Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a close ally of Mr. Trump’s, would join Meta’s board.

BTW, Dana White, a violent man who assaulted his wife, got a warm welcome to Meta’s board from Instagram/Threads chief Adam Mosseri: “Excited to have you on board!” Everyone is falling in line. And all those $1 million donations to Trump’s inaugural fund from tech & media companies and CEOs are nothing but racket protection payments.

I don’t think this actually has a whole lot to do with Zuckerberg’s or Meta’s commitment to free speech. What Zuckerberg and Meta have realized is the value, demonstrated by Trump, Musk, and MAGA antagonists, of saying that you’re “protecting free speech” and using it as cover for almost anything you want to do. For Meta, that means increasing engagement, decreasing government oversight and interference, and lowering their labor costs (through cutting their workforce and strengthening their bargaining position vs labor) — all things that will make their stock price go up and increase the wealth of their shareholders.

Decreasing moderation and allowing more political & hate speech (I don’t now how else to read “remove the vast majority of censorship mistakes by focusing our filters on tackling illegal and high-severity violations” — hate speech is protected speech in the US) will increase engagement overall, any AI bots they want to unleash to spur engagement don’t have to be moderated, TX is more labor- and corporate-friendly than CA (I’m sure this is also part of Meta’ ongoing negotiation with CA about letting them have more leeway or they’ll leave the state), and I think the benefit of rethinking their rules to be more friendly to conservatives is self-explanatory.

Tags: business · Donald Trump · Facebook · Mark Zuckerberg · politics

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are five updates from past letter-writers.

1. Employee is chewing tobacco at his desk and in meetings (#3 at the link)

The advice did help!

I had to reinforce the policy before getting your advice, and I don’t think I was assertive enough since I did notice he was still doing it, but only at his desk. When addressing the issue the second time, I took your advice and told him straight, “You can’t do that on company property, only at the designated space and during break time.” This time, it worked, as I haven’t witnessed it since!

This employee has a different personality, almost teenager-like. He doesn’t seem truly interested in growing and learning, but he still asks how he can get more money. I have tried to follow the standard leadership routines to get him somewhat motivated: meeting with him weekly for 30 minutes, meeting monthly for 1 hour for feedback and goal reviews, talking about career aspirations, taking the team to lunch for birthdays, etc.

I’m not sure if sometimes you just can’t create the connection and must deal with the non-motivation. (He always has an excuse to work from home when he should be working in the office: back pain, moving, cold, headache, etc.; forwarding me requests without really looking into them first.)

Thank you again for all you do! Your advice is greatly appreciated!

2. Contacting kids of family friends about career opportunities

I’m finally heeding the update call since my question popped up again in the Inc. archives refresh!

So. A day or so after I called and got laughed at and hung up on (and wrote into AAM), my friend emailed me in a panic saying that she had sent me the wrong number by one digit. Ahh! Ahahahaha! Makes so much more sense now! (Though I wish I knew who I’d ended up calling instead …)

After that, I emailed her son the details, per Alison’s suggestion. He thanked me and then proceeded to forge his own path as a thriving software engineer.

In the spirit of learning from AAM, I haven’t done any cold calls or sent any unsolicited career leads to friends’ kids since.

However … though it wasn’t a useful career lead for my friend’s son (or for the stranger I totally did robocall), it ended up being a super fruitful path for me. Turns out, I was fired up because I would’ve wanted the opportunity myself. A year later, that chance popped up. I’ve since co-authored a book with the founder of the college grad program and helped him launch a company to help those advancing social justice and care/support for others here and around the globe. He’s been by far the best boss I’ve ever worked for. I still can’t believe my luck.

Anyway, I hope you’re well. I’m forever grateful to you for continuing to be a voice of reason during these 9+ years of @&!?.

3. My old high school started a mentoring program and it sucks (#3 at the link)

Ultimately, I did not opt out of the program. Whether or not my message to Alan had anything to do with it, I at least stopped receiving messages from Alan asking me and dozens of alum on a CC line to do the labor of reaching out to students. I only received messages directly from students and alum who were interested in talking to me. Of course, Alan still posts on this site and uses some kind of tagging mechanic to invite every alum to every event they’re hosting, even if it’s not in my geographic area or my field. So I get tons of email that I frankly consider barely better than spam from this program. So, good job making the people you’re asking favors of do the labor of weeding through the email to figure out if the latest message is an invitation to the Llama Grooming Meetup in Antartica, or a kid who had enough courage to ask for mentorship.

But fast forward to … literally the day you emailed me asking for an update, and I received an email from Alan, asking me to contact a high school alumni who is a COLLEGE GRADUATE to talk to them about attending a graduate program in my field. I simply responded that I’m happy to talk to the student or any other student, but I prefer to let students reach out to me if they’re interested in talking to me. I don’t know that’s it’s my duty to correct Alan, and I don’t know that it would help. So … the program still sucks. But I feel reluctant to penalize kids who may or may not want to get into a challenging field just because the management of this program sucks.

4. Coworker talks about his religion all the time

God is real! My physical relocation inside the office took longer than expected due to some hiring hiccups, then the religious dudebro left the company within days of me moving into my new space. Sorry it’s not very climactic, but it could not have been more exciting for me personally! And he left of his own volition, so I felt zero guilt for internally celebrating his departure. Thank you again for answering my question, but it resolved itself before I needed to implement your advice!

5. What to do when peers constantly miss scheduled meetings (#2 at the link)

Way back in 2013, you answered a question about colleagues missing meetings and failing to provide information I needed to do my job. You and the commenters had excellent tips, but the problem boiled down to working in a dysfunctional organization that prided itself on being a big family, with gossip, black sheep, skeletons in the closet, and all. I couldn’t get information and I was criticized for moving forward with my best guesses. Millions of dollars were on the line for projects that helped students and underserved community members. My writing was used as a model by one of our federal funders.

Things got much, much worse. The new manager I mentioned in the comments had been the fifth choice for that position. She did not understand my job. She put me on a PIP with no end date and no measurable outcomes or changes. She pulled up the job description I HAD WRITTEN as evidence that I had been failing, although a previous manager documented how well I’d met all the objectives. Etc. I’d been told my communication was too terse, with no examples, and then commanded to survey everyone I’d worked with on projects. Fortunately, their responses were glowing. I asked for HR mediation with my manager, and we were told we just had different communication styles and to maybe take a Myers-Briggs or something.

I had been unhappy for some time and tired of the work itself, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. Then a close family member nearly died in front of me, and I thought about the idea of working in health care. I toughed it out at the organization on the never-ending PIP and tried to fund a few crucial projects dear to me. I also used my tuition benefits and took as many science classes as I could. Ironically, I was able to take a class for free that had been funded by my own grant a few years prior, and that set me up to (eventually) refuse to sign a horrific contract. I was begged and courted to stay on for one more multi-million dollar project, although I wanted to be done. I agonized over whether to take it on. When I reluctantly got back to them with a timeline and high but fair consulting fee, I was told they’d decided to go with someone else (my stomach had been in knots thinking about doing it). Before I left, I tried to schedule time to hand off my work for weeks. Just as I was walking out, box in hand, the person who would be managing it showed up. I told the terrible manager that I hope she appreciated what I’d been talking about.

After more hard work and harder classes, I was accepted into a competitive PA school, and I’ve been working in medicine for almost five years. I love my specialty and the people I get to work with. Thanks to the ordeal, I have a much more realistic view of organizational and systemic problems as well as understanding of what I can change and what is worth changing my own situation for.

Andrew Garfield has big ideas about life and death – even a theory about the nature of time. Over an afternoon at one of his favorite New York City haunts, the actor lets us into his world. “The Confessions of Andrew Garfield” by Rachel Dodes is on Esquire.com now and in the new October/November issue, available everywhere by October 8.

 

 

On whether he would reprise his role as Spider-Man: “For sure, I would 100 percent come back if it was the right thing, if it’s additive to the culture, if there’s a great concept or something that hasn’t been done before that’s unique and odd and exciting and that you can sink your teeth into. I love that character, and it brings joy. If part of what I bring is joy, then I’m joyful in return.”

On his intimate scenes with Florence Pugh in We Live in Time: “We had to do the most intimate things I think human beings have to do—you know, [Pugh] had to be on all fours, then on a toilet, naked. And we have to have my face where I have my face, my hands where I have my hands, and the sex scenes have to be incredibly intimate.”

Co-star Florence Pugh on working with Garfield in We Live in Time: “We truly felt held by each other, and I felt like my abilities were respected and given back in his abilities. When we finished the job, we both felt like, What an amazing partnership we have created and what an amazing thing to know that we will do it again.” [Though there are no immediate plans for them to do it again, Pugh says she hopes “with every bone in my body” that it will happen.]

Lin-Manuel Miranda (who directed Garfield in tick, tick…Boom!) on Garfield’s work ethic after seeing him on stage in Angels in America: “If you just said the words, without any acting, [Angels] is an endurance test—basically you’re onstage for eight hours a day, living and dying and living. It takes everything out of you. I remember watching him and kind of clocking whether he had any resemblance to Jonathan Larson, because I just thought, This guy can do anything. I don’t know if he can sing or not, but I know that he’s doing an incredible feat in front of me right now. So I’m pretty sure he can do whatever he feels like.”

Laura Dern (friend and co-star in 99 Homes) on Garfield’s process as actor: “It’s beautiful to watch his process, in that he always knows instinctively what he needs to do. It’s not that he doesn’t weigh options, but he doesn’t make choices based on moves on the chessboard.”

On his brutally honest interview with New York Magazine in 2015 and the ensuing tabloid coverage: “It felt like, ‘Hey, let’s all gather round for this guy’s mental breakdown.’ In reality, I was nowhere near that. I was honestly just asking questions that everyone asks about life and existence and what matters and what doesn’t.”

On wanting to buy a farm: “I’m craving . . . a closeness to the earth and nature and other people, local community.”

On his late mother, Lynne, when she was asked by Jack Black at a pre-Oscar party whether Garfield’s talent was nature or nurture: “She gets up in Jack Black’s face in the middle of dancing and tells him, ‘It was me! It was all me!’ Oh, it was a riot. It was so beautiful.”

 

[Photo Credit: Mark Seliger/Esquire Magazine]

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The post WE LIVE IN TIME Star Andrew Garfield Covers ESQUIRE’S October/November Issue appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

This is such a wild story. Two men, Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson & Emery Walker, founded the Doves Press in London in 1900. They made a typeface called Doves Roman:

During its short life early last century, the Doves Press printed and bound some of the finest books ever produced in England and its approach to typography and printing subsequently exerted a major influence over book design in Europe and the United States. Many of Cobden-Sanderson’s ideas would, decades later, find expression or adaptation in both Traditionalist and Modernist circles respectively.

The partnership busted up and Cobden-Sanderson eventually took all of the lead type and dumped it in the Thames River. No more typeface.

The thought of ‘his’ typeface being used by anyone else, and in a manner beyond his control, prompted Cobden-Sanderson’s now infamous course of action. Only the Doves Press, run exclusively by him, could be bestowed the honour of printing his type. And so the mission to destroy it, beginning with the punches and matrices on Good Friday 1913, began. On an almost nightly basis from August 1916 the ailing septuagenarian dumped the type into the Thames, wrapped in paper parcels and tied with string; “bequeathed to the river” as he put it in his personal diary. Every piece of this beautiful typeface, more than a ton of metal, was destroyed in a prolonged ritual sacrifice.

Type designer Robert Green, working from printed materials, made a digital facsimile font of Doves Roman. In a bid to improve the font, he set out to find the lead type dumped in the river, aided by Cobden-Sanderson’s diary entries of the type-destroying mission. He found a few of the metal sorts (i.e. pieces of lead type) and with assistance from the Port of London Authority’s diving team, ended up retrieving 151 metal sorts in all, “out of a possible 500,000”.

Here’s a short film about the recovery of the type:

You can testdrive and buy the text and headline typefaces that Green created using the recovered sorts. (via colossal)

Tags: design · Emery Walker · London · Robert Green · Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson · typography · video

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Imagine you own an ice cream shop and the thermostat on your dipping cabinet, which is the freezer ice cream is dipped (scooped) out of, is set to 4, which is too warm, and you want to make the freezer colder. Are you setting this dial to 3 or to 5 to make the freezer colder? I asked the Gracie’s followers on Instagram earlier this year and there was lots of discussion. Comment below with your answer unless you already follow Gracie’s on Instagram, in which case, zip it, buster.

Tags: ice cream

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Yesterday the Atlantic published a list of great American novels — 136 of them. I’ve read them all! Just kidding.

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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

Last week, I asked for stories about strangely dramatic reactions that you’ve seen people have to mundane changes at work. The comment section was full of fantastic stories — so many that I had to split my favorites up into two posts. Here’s part one, and part two is coming tomorrow.

1. The microwave

Tom has his food warming up in the microwave, and has walked off for a moment while it’s heating up. The timer goes off, Jerry immediately pulls Tom’s food out, and puts his own food in, starts the time, and also walks off. Tom comes back and finds that his food is not completely warm, stops Jerry’s food, takes it out, and put’s his food in. Jerry comes back, sees what has happened, and starts shouting at Tom for touching his food. Tom shouts back at Jerry for touching his food in the first place. This escalates into an all out screaming match between the two. Meanwhile, management is trying to get the two to stop shouting at each other. Tom screams that he can’t take this anymore, he quits, grabs his stuff, and walks out. Jerry then also says he’s done, grabs his stuff, and walks out.

CUT TO THE PARKING LOT. Tom is waiting for a ride to come and get him and has some of his stuff on the ground next to him. Jerry comes pulling out, swerves towards Tom, not hitting him, but running over his coffee mug that is sitting on the ground. Tom calls the police to file a destruction of property complaint over a $15 coffee cup. Police decline to report to the scene.

Jerry calls management later that day, and says that he does not quit, he just got worked up, and that he’ll be back in the morning. Management goes to HR, and HR begins the internal process to terminate an employee, but even in this situation, that requires some time (it would have completed before the end of the next day, but terminations require a few sign offs). Jerry reports to work the next morning, but reads the tea leaves, and leaves “for lunch” and never returns.

2. The toilet seat covers

We were changing over suppliers for things like toilet paper, entry mats, and such. There was some discussion between the few people arranging this about whether we needed to buy those mounted toilet seat cover dispensers or people could just grab them out of the cardboard container they came in.

During some informal polling, there was apparently a misunderstanding that the question was whether there would be toilet seat covers at all. One guy lost his mind over it, another went all White Knight because this was an “attack” on his direct report, and that’s how I ended up with two grown adults in my office yelling at each other about thin pieces of tissue paper. The phrase “You don’t get to tell me where to put my bare ass!” was bellowed. The fact that they didn’t know they were in violent agreement on what should actually happen was just the icing on the cake.

3. The table

I worked an internship for only four weeks because of this outsized reaction.

A rectangular cafeteria table was rotated. That’s it. It went from being perpendicular to the cabinets to parallel.

Holy mother of breakdowns, batman. A team lead came in and saw it and completely lost his mind. I’m talking screaming, ranting, mugs thrown against the wall, holes punched into the wall, all the tables flipped over, just absolute violent meltdown. All because the one table rotated was his favorite table and now the flow of the room was permanently ruined.

We were not allowed to evacuate the office during this, nor were we allowed to call the police. The company issued no statement afterwards, and the team lead was back at work the next day. I quit two days later.

4. The bagel club

Old job had a once-a-month bagel club. Members contributed to the cost and then took turns buying the bagels. This involved my dept and a smaller dept across the hall; about 35 people total.

One designated Friday, a manager from the other department forgot to pick up the bagels on his way in and couldn’t get away from the office until almost ten o’clock. By then the bakery at the local supermarket was almost out of bagels so he ended up with a miscellaneous assortment of mostly rolls, muffins, even a couple donuts. He brought it back along with the usual cream cheese & butter.

Oh, the outrage, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth that ensued! This was unacceptable, an outright failure, a major topic for (prolonged) discussion & analysis, critique & condemnation.

It ended with said manager dramatically quitting the bagel club via an overwrought email sent copy all to both depts, both bagel club & non-bagel club members. Hurt feelings lingered for months!

A few years later, we moved to a new building. My manager quietly ended the bagel club.

5. The venue change

Fairly recently I had two no-shows at a mandatory training course, and when I chased up the participants afterwards I discovered that one was off sick that day (fine) but the other had (according to her manager) refused to attend the course because she “did not appreciate the short notice venue change.”

The “short notice venue change” in question was our training admin updating the calendar invite a few days in advance of the session to let people know that the course was being held in Training Room 2 not Training Room 1, because Training Room 1 was having some IT equipment fixes. There was also a sign on the door of Room 1 saying “IT cabling in progress; for [course] please go to Room 2 next door.”

The rooms are identical, and next door to one another – both on the ground floor, with no access differences. They have the same chairs, the same tables, the same projector … it’s just that the door to Room 2 is about seven steps further along that Room 1.

6. The revenge

Years ago, I worked in fundraising at a small university. The job was very standard 8:30-4:30 every day; but the expectation was one day a year (literally one) all staff had to plan to work 8:30 to 7:30 for the school’s annual gala, which was on campus and always on a Friday. The date was chosen a full year out and we got nine thousand reminders about it. We had one employee, D, who requested that day off the week of the event because she wanted to “try her hand at bartending” at her boyfriend’s bar. Our boss told her no, but he was willing to let her leave at 5pm. Instead she quit on the spot, then while we were at the gala, she came back to our office (as seen on security cameras) and destroyed every potted plant in the office and stole every stapler and all of the paper out of the printer. Still the weirdest over-reaction to be asked to work 30 minutes of overtime I’ve ever seen.

7. The cheese wheel

Our organization holds an annual event where the summer interns make presentations on their projects. It’s always a nice event and people from the colleges and the community are invited. The interns’ supervisors are expected to give pretty detailed feedback on the presentations and the interns’ overall performance. One year a new administrative assistant ordered appetizers from a different vendor and there was no cheese tray. A supervisor who had worked with multiple interns came in as the event was starting, looked at the food, loudly exclaimed, “WHERE IS THE CHEESE WHEEL?” and then stormed out and refused to participate when he was told there was no cheese. We had to scramble to keep the interns calm and get them the paperwork they needed to satisfy their internship requirements.

A few of us still use “cheese wheel” as a code word for “I’d like to leave this meeting.”

8. The water fountain war

We installed some new water fountains about five years back–ones with filtered cold and hot water, for cups/bottles instead of the drinking fountains we had before. They have a small tray beneath where you fill your cup/bottle but it says on the machine, “No drain”. The tray is just to catch small drips or whatever. Fine, we were good with that.

We must have had someone new start or something about a year and a half ago or so because we started coming into the tray FILLED with coffee creamer. It was gross looking and I’m not sure how it was emptied (if facilities dealt with it or what), but every morning we would come in to more. I’m one of the first in the office, and I didn’t really start noticing until a couple of my coworkers absolutely lost their minds.

Coworker A took it personally, and we came in to a sign taped on the water fountain in all caps, “CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF. YOU’RE AN ADULT. THIS HAS NO DRAIN.” Kind of aggressive, but whatever. We weren’t surprised that it was this particular coworker. But it had no effect. Every morning there was still dumped coffee and creamer in it.

But then, one of the people in my department, Coworker B, took it beyond personally. Like it was THEIR PERSONAL water cooler or something. They started putting signs up ALL OVER the cooler. To the point where it covered up the buttons where you pressed for water. They were all to the effect of, “YOUR MOTHER DOESN’T WORK HERE” in 72 pt font followed by “THERE IS NO DRAIN IN THIS UNIT. STOP DUMPING YOUR GROSS COFFEE.” And of course, it was still ignored.

So then Coworker B cut out foot prints out of printer paper and TAPED THEM TO THE FLOOR leading up to the cooler, and in front of the cooler as if to tell you where to stand. There was also a foot press from COVID times when we didn’t want to touch things other people touched with their hands. A foot print was taped to that too. And, still ignored! There was still creamer and coffee.

It came to a head where Coworker B brought in one of those cameras you mount to your porch to check for porch thieves. Incidentally, I was the one who had actually given it to them, when they were having issues with their neighbor harassing them about their dog (that’s actually an entire OTHER story of bizarreness). So they put the camera on the water fountain. They didn’t actually connect it to anything, but they put it on there as . . . some sort of warning? I don’t even know. But when I saw it I KNEW that IT was going to have a problem (we’re a large enough company with our own security systems and servers and all sort of proprietary stuff).

Sure enough, the camera disappeared. And Coworker B was ranting about how the person who was dumping the coffee had stolen it, and was saying, “They stole [my name]’s camera! That’s so messed up.” I didn’t care because I had given it to them with no intention of receiving it back. I knew it was in IT’s office because they’re the only ones who would have done that. And, surprise surprise, IT returned the camera to Coworker B and told them to knock it off, that it was a security issue, regardless of if the camera was turned on.

At this point, I think enough people had complained to our boss (including me) that all of the signs disappeared, and so did the foot prints, and all that was left was a sign saying “No Drain.” And then, another person was like, “Oh our sister company used to have this problem. Just put some paper towels in the non-drain and people will realize there’s no drain.” And we did that. And voila, the issue was gone.

This went on for weeks. It was insane. I like to think the culprit knew who was losing their mind and just kept doing it to piss Coworker B off, because they’re not super well liked in the office. Exactly for this reason. I never did learn who was doing it, but it’s never been an issue again.

9. The chips

20-cough years ago, my summer college job was working the overnight shift at a manufacturing plant. The break room was a small room smack in the middle of the assembly line floor. Rumor had it that one time the vending machine didn’t dispense someone’s chips and they were so incensed that they got in their forklift and drove it straight through the vending machine. This lore was passed to all of us wide-eyed, temporary college workers like a warning: not all of your coworkers are ok, beware!

10. The revenge, part 2

We had a young (fresh from college) employee who was let go. He went out to the parking lot, threw down his company logo jacket, and then drove his car back and forth over it a few times before skidding off. The windows to the parking lot are visible to a large section of the office, so several employees and managers got to watch this fit of pique live.

11. The Brita filter

I worked in a small office (less than 10 people) and we had a very small kitchenette – mini-fridge, coffee maker, microwave, sink, and a cupboard for storing mugs. In the mini-fridge we had a Brita pitcher for drinking water. People were pretty good about refilling it throughout the day, so it was rarely empty.

A new hire thought this was absolutely barbaric. He regularly ranted about how unhygienic Brita filters are, how they stop working if the filter ever gets dry, and we needed a proper water cooler. He created a petition (again, in an office of less than 10 people!) to get us all on his side. I think this was happening as I had one foot out the door so I went ahead and signed on, but had no idea if the petition was every brought to the person who could actually make that decision. But right after my last day they moved to a slightly larger office. I went back to return some equipment and the first thing this (now former) co-worker showed me was the new water cooler.

12. The last stand

My mother works in academia and she has Seen Things. Some 10 years ago they relocated one of the departments to a new building. To be clear, this new building was very similar in size and layout to the old one, and just around the corner. Well, one random admin decided that this WOULD NOT DO and she WOULD NOT LEAVE the old building.

On the day the movers were supposed to take all the department stuff to the new building, she barricaded herself into the office and refused to let them in. They moved everyone else’s stuff into the new building, except for this lady’s stuff. I guess everyone expected her to give up once she saw the rest of the building was literally deserted? She did not.

She started to come into the old building, go into her old office and lock herself in (she had all the keys). Everyone else was working in the new building, and the old building was just deserted aside from this one rogue admin. I asked my mother why they couldn’t just force her to give up the old office. She said the university had already fired her once for some other egregious behaviour, but rogue admin had sued and won and been reinstated with backpay. So now she was basically untouchable.

I think they got her to take early retirement eventually. But I have to consider the possibility that, 10 years later, she’s still going into that deserted building every day to lock herself into her office to do who knows what kind of work for the entire day…

13. The phone directory

Many years ago, the administrative assistant made up the yearly phone directory. She had been doing this for years, with few changes in staff in my department. The directory was set up by department and then alphabetically by last name within that department. This particular year, my department got a new member with a “B” last name. The directories were printed and distributed. One person, who had been at the top of the list because their last name started with a “C” lost their damn mind. Apparently, they had been under the impression that the list was in order of seniority/importance (which still wouldn’t have put them at the top of the list but whatever) and had never noticed the alphabetical nature of the list. Someone suggested maybe the list should be in numerical order by extension. That was no good because that would put this person even further down the list! So, directories were reprinted with every other department in alphabetical order but our department had this person at the top and then alphabetical. Also, we had to rearrange our phone extensions so this person had the first one, numerically. This person retired 3 months later.

14. The movie poll

My boss sent out a poll in Teams about Movies You Liked. We could vote for other peoples’ entries and/or add our own.

People campaigned for their choices like it was an election for the sanitation commissioner.
People made judgments about the movies that had the most votes and the ones that didn’t have any. Votes were changed willy-nilly. Work was put aside as people sat in their chairs debating what made their movie better than the others’. Some conversations fell just short of a screaming match.

After the three-day period, the vote closed and … that’s it. There was no point to the poll. My boss was “just interested” in what people watched. :/

15. The empty coffee pot

Years ago, an employee came to work, noticed an issue (I’m intentionally being vague here because the reason is even better after you know all the reactions) started yelling, dramatically cleaned off her desk (think sweeping all the items off of it into a box) and declared she couldn’t work in these conditions any longer.

Her issue?

The coffee pot was empty … and currently in the process of making new coffee … so her wait was minutes at best.

To this day I refuse to believe that was her only reason for quitting. But we never saw her again and she did quit to HR, but they never shared if she had another reason.

16. The parking garage

I work in higher ed which is the land of Strangely Dramatic Responses. One of my favorites happened many years ago when the parking company decided, after many years, that they would no longer reserve an entire floor of the parkade for us as not enough people had purchased parking passes to justify it. Mind you we could still purchase passes and could still park in the parkade. One faculty member sent an all-staff email complaining bitterly about this decision and while I wish I could remember it in its entirety, it did contain the phrase “this is the greatest threat to education that we have ever faced” (because maybe it would take you an extra minute to find a spot when you got to work).

17. The bigger monitor

One night after work, my coworker swapped her computer monitor for another coworker’s monitor that was much, much bigger (this second coworker had a graphics-centric job that required a larger monitor, whereas the “thief” did not). When confronted, this coworker denied taking it at first, but as it was VERY obvious that she had taken it she eventually said she had permission from our boss to make the swap. Our boss insisted this was not the case, and said coworker was ordered repeatedly to give back the stolen monitor. And she just refused.

HR got involved and still she wouldn’t budge. The HR process was moving slowly (weeks at this point), so one night a couple people stayed late and just swapped the monitors back (my coworker locked her door each evening so getting in to do this was not easy or else I suspect this would have been done earlier).

When coworker came in and saw what had happened she was furious. Screaming. Crying. Bad mouthing all of us to anyone who would listen. Ultimately she quit and spread tales of her “unfair mistreatment” throughout our shared professional circles. It’s been years since this happened and sometimes I still encounter people who know her (wildly inaccurate) side of the story and she’s managed to convince people that we’re monsters.

A good interactive from The Pudding on the invisible loneliness epidemic in America. "The amount of time we spend with friends has plummeted — and again it hit younger people [34 or younger] especially hard."

New linguistics trend: "whom of which" (and its relation to "pied piping"). "Our striker, whom of which is our best player, scores a lot of goals."

Daft Punk is releasing a "drumless" edition of their album Random Access Memories. It'll be out in Nov.

Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water. "Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun."

Part one of Erin Kissane's investigation into the role Facebook/Meta played in the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. "The harms Meta passively and actively fueled destroyed or ended hundreds of thousands of lives."

Ethiopian Tigst Assefa is the new women's marathon record-holder: 2:11:53. The men's record in 1965 was 2:12, but the women are getting faster quicker. Since '65: men are 11m faster while women are an hour faster. (And 5m vs 9m since '98.)

Hamburger Helper Unveils New Line Of Erotic Casseroles Meant To Be Eaten Off Naked Body. "The erotic casserole's box would include step-by-step instructions on how to blindfold one's partner and titillatingly dribble hot grease on their chest."

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Using drones, a team led by photographer Chris Hytha has been traveling around the country capturing images of the tops of some of America’s most beautiful and notable early 20th century skyscrapers.

The prosperity of early 20th century America resulted in a boom of skyscrapers that still tower over cities across the country today. Focusing on the character and craftsmanship on display at the top of these landmark buildings in a way that can’t be seen from street level, the Highrises Collection reveals fascinating details and stories of these distinctly American icons.

They’ve done almost a hundred of them so far and are planning on adding about 100 more to the tally before they are finished. Hytha recently shared some of his favorite Art Deco buildings from the project. (via @mwilkie)

Tags: architecture   Chris Hytha   drones   photography   skyscrapers

I have never seen this before so maybe you haven’t either: a full-length video recording of Prince and the Revolution playing at First Avenue in 1983. This show marked the first time Prince played Purple Rain in public; it’s this recording of the song (lightly edited and reworked) that you hear on the album of the same name released the next year. From a piece in The Current about the show:

Before the 1984 blockbuster Purple Rain catapulted Prince on to the national stage, there was an Aug. 3, 1983 benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the recently re-branded First Avenue. It was there that the budding pop star debuted much of the Purple Rain album tracks, and recorded the versions of “Purple Rain,” “I Would Die 4 U” and “Baby I’m A Star” heard in the film and soundtrack.

“Those versions were almost exactly what he did live,” said longtime Prince producer David Rivkin, also known as David Z.

Since technology at the time couldn’t record wireless bass well, Rivkin said, Prince later added bass overdubs. He did some content edits, cutting the song down from about 14 to nine minutes.

“It was incredible; I mean little did I know it was gonna be that big of a recording,” Rivkin said. “Prince was really not a well-known figure back then. This is the kind of recording that launched him into super stardom.”

From Anil Dash’s piece on how Purple Rain came to be:

While Prince and the Revolution had been carefully rehearsing Purple Rain all summer, adjusting each detail of how the song was structured and played, Prince’s nearly-unequalled ability to spontaneously take a live performance to the next level was certainly on display that August night.

Exemplifying this ability is the repeated lilting motif that Prince begins playing on his guitar at 4:40 in the song. For all the countless times they’d practiced the song, even earlier on the same day as the First Avenue performance, Prince had never played this riff during Purple Rain before. In the original live show, it’s clear that Prince realizes he’s found something magical, returning again and again to this brief riff, not just on guitar but even singing it himself during the final fade of the song.

Just as striking is how this little riff shows the care and self-criticism that went into making the song Purple Rain. Like any brilliant 25-year-old guy who’s thought of something clever, Prince’s tendency when he thought of this little gem was to overdo it. In the unedited version of the song, Prince keeps playing the riff for almost another minute, pacing around the stage trying to will the audience into responding to it.

Update: From Louder, an oral history of Purple Rain and the night it was recorded.

After Melvoin’s opening acoustic chords, Bobby Z’s drums — mostly acoustic, and triggering Linn drums later added to in the mix — accompanied Prince’s singing for the first two minutes. “It’s just a back-beat and him from his guts,” Bobby says. “It’s just so raw for him. I remember those two minutes. Because the room is silent except for the pattern you’re playing. He was in the moment, and you’re in it with him, and it was a special place to be. It was a whole different planet.”

(via @peterbutler

Tags: music   Prince   video

Spotted recently: a new collection of textiles for Knoll by Nick Cave, the Missouri-born designer who “works across both the visual and performing arts, tapping various media including sculpture, installation, video, sound, and performance,” according to Knoll.

Cave (not to be confused with the Australian singer/songwriter Nick Cave) is everywhere these days, including the exhibit Forothermore, which extends across three floors at the Guggenheim in NYC (going on now through April 10). “Throughout his practice, Cave has created spaces of memorial in which his audiences confront the urgent issues of race, social justice, and identity politics in the United States,” Knoll’s bio reads. “In his work, Cave reminds us that along with despair, there remains the opportunity for hope and renewal.”

Have a look at a few of our favorite designs from the new collection.

Above: Cave with his Button fabric for Knoll. “Perhaps best known for his Soundsuits, Cave creates dimension in textiles by layering, rearranging, and transforming everyday objects such as beads, doilies, sequins, and synthetic hair into material and sociopolitical representations,” reports Knoll. Cave scours antique and flea markets across the US “to source one-of-a-kind objects for use in his artworks.”

For much more, head to Nick Cave x Knoll Textiles.

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This post, pregnant coworker keeps saying awful things to my terminally ill sister , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

Hoo boy, this will be short but brutal. My little sister has terminal cancer — she has between 2-4 years left. No symptoms yet, so she’s still going to work every day. They’re a small company of 10 people (read: no HR dept) and one of those 10 is a woman apparently bereft of reason or empathy. This gal is five months pregnant and will not stop saying inappropriate things to my sis.

Here’s a highlight reel:

She came to lil sis’s office, put my sister’s hand on her own stomach and said, “Now you have another reason to fight.”

“Pregnancy is going around! Guess you don’t have to worry about that.” (Lil sis beat ovarian cancer a few years ago and had a hysterectomy.)

“Your body is growing things it shouldn’t and my body is growing exactly what I wanted.”

While talking about next year’s conference, she said, “I’ll be pregnant so Lil Sis it’s all you.” Lil sis replied, “Well it usually is, but I’m dying so your ass is gonna have to figure something out.”

My sister doesn’t really have the energy to devote to this (nor the fucks, to be honest) so she’s been ignoring it or responding like she did above. I love her quips but it’s not stopping Pregnant Lady from saying all of these messed up things. Any advice?

This is so beyond the pale, so unbelievably and infuriatingly awful and unkind, that I felt ill reading it. I can only imagine how your sister feels hearing it.

Something is deeply, deeply wrong with this person.

Your sister would be on solid ground shutting these remarks down however she wants. If she wants a professional option (and I don’t blame her if she doesn’t), I’d go with, “Do not speak to me again about my body or my health. It is off-limits.” But really, she should say anything she wants — what’s the coworker going to do if your sister’s response isn’t perfectly work-appropriate? The coworker’s remarks aren’t life-appropriate. And if the coworker complains to someone about how your sister responded, it’s going to be clear that she was the one horribly in the wrong.

Speaking of complaining to someone: Your sister’s company doesn’t have HR but they must have some kind of authority structure. Your sister has the option, if she wants it, of going to someone with authority over the coworker, explaining what the coworker has been saying, and insisting that it stop. Any decent manager will be horrified to hear about this and will shut it down.

I’m very sorry that your sister is dealing with this disaster of a person.

This post, should we require “they/them” pronouns as the default for everyone at our meetings? , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I just stumbled across your 2021 post “my office wants my pronouns — but I’m still figuring it out.“ I was so grateful to the letter writer and commenters who described the turmoil I feel when asked for my pronouns in a work context. The best parallel I can imagine is an icebreaker where meeting participants are asked to describe their relationship with their mother in two words: I don’t know how to answer the question, and even if I did, I don’t want to share it with a group of professional contacts before we turn to a work topic.

I manage HR at a small nonprofit, and I’m thinking about proposing an organizational standard that for external meetings/events, we ask folks to refer to each other as “they” unless they know the person prefers a given pronoun (from prior knowledge, inclusion in their Zoom participant name, etc). When we ask for pronouns, what we really want is to keep from misgendering each other in the course of our work — but why do we put the onus on individuals to come out rather than removing the gender default from our language in the first place?

I wondered if you’d be willing to ask your readers for feedback on this idea? It’s hard to find communities of other professionals with diverse gender identities to run this by. I’d love to hear any implications of this idea that I’m not considering! I’m picturing a script along the lines of:

“Before we do introductions, I want to acknowledge how much we don’t know about each other just by looking. There’s likely a spectrum of racial/ethnic and gender identities in this meeting, as well as neurodiversity, an array of areas of expertise, and more. So we’re asking all participants to challenge yourself to not make any assumptions about others in how you talk to or about each other. In particular, please refer to other people by their name or the gender-neutral pronouns ‘they’ or ‘them’ unless you happen to know someone prefers another pronoun (he, she, xe, etc.). And if you are someone who wants specific pronouns used for you, you can mention that in your intro or add them to your Zoom name. Any questions?”

Are people ahead doing this anywhere? In addition to the distress caused to me and apparently others by asking everyone to disclose something personal at the top of the meeting, practically speaking, no one remembers all the names from intros, much less each individual’s pronouns. Plus, beyond my own identity, I’d really like to avoid hearing a slew of femme-presenting people ask for “she/her” pronouns (as often happens in the spaces I’ve been in); this can quickly feel alienating, like a public celebration of the gender binary rather than the acknowledgment of diversity it’s meant to be, depending on who’s in the room.

What I’m curious to hear from you and readers is, can we put the affirmation that comes from using people’s individual pronouns back on an individual level? This proposal would make me feel more able to participate in a meeting. Would it do the same for others?

To make sure readers are following: the idea would be to request that everyone use “they/them” as the default when referring to other people, unless someone names different pronouns for themselves.

I’m interested to hear feedback from others, but I don’t think it’s practical. Getting people to reprogram their language for an entire group for a single meeting is not a small request (look at how much trouble people have getting individual people’s pronouns correct when they change, even when they’re genuinely trying). And you’re expecting them to remember who introduced themselves with specific pronouns and who didn’t — when, as you point out, people don’t even remember everyone’s names.

Moreover, how do you plan to enforce it? And are your meetings going to be regularly derailed by people apologizing for getting it wrong?

You mentioned that part of your motivation is to avoid hearing a slew of she/her pronouns when people introduce themselves. But your script specifically invites people to name any specific pronouns they want used for themselves, so most likely you’ll still get lots of people saying “I use she/her” during introductions. And the solution definitely isn’t to remove the invitation to offer those — because lots of people feel strongly about their gender identities and want their correct pronouns used. That’s much of the point, really.

In fact, that’s the other issue with this plan — you can misgender people with “they/them” just like with anything else.

So by all means, encourage people to share their pronouns if they want to (as long as you don’t require it). But trying to impose “they” for everyone as a default unless they request an exception is likely to draw a ton of attention away from what you’re there to do and ultimately not have the effect you want.

Blue River Bar and Restaurant – Holercani, Moldova

 

We continue our streak of “Everything is on fire outside so let’s hit a cool, dark bar” of LOunges, darlings. We can’t imagine anyone would mind today’s choice, which has a soothing, comfortable vibe that practically begs for civilized cocktails and shocking conversations. Let’s get to work on that, shall we?

 

Jennifer Behr and Celebrity Stylist Micaela Erlanger Make a Strong Case for Wearing a Bow at Your Wedding
The duo spoke to InStyle about their new accessories collaboration, Jennifer Behr x Micaela, and share advice for our biggest bridal fashion dilemmas (like whether or not bridesmaids should match).
With all that goes into planning a wedding, it’s easy to overlook one seemingly minor — but actually major — detail: accessories. These final, fashionable touches, be it drop earrings or hair clips, are essentially what pull your look together and turn it into something extra-special. And it can be argued that no one does wedding accessories better than Jennifer Behr. Except maybe Jennifer Behr and celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger, who have now teamed up for a stunning collaboration, aptly titled Jennifer Behr x Micaela.

 

The Glorious Performance Art of Grace Jones and Issey Miyake
One of pop music’s most original auteurs, Jones built her indelible image through the late Japanese designer’s work.
Every fanatic of the designer Issey Miyake, who died last week at the age of 84, has an icon who represents for them the work of this awesome genius. Hypebeasts might envision Robin Williams in a purple and blue cargo bomber from Miyake’s Fall 1996 collection as their ultimate grail. Ladies of the canyon may worship Joni Mitchell in her Miyake finery: the singer has admitted to owning “hundreds” of the designer’s pieces. And the general public knows Miyake through his relationship with Steve Jobs, whose plain black turtlenecks, made by the hundreds by Miyake, solidified the Apple co-founder’s public image as a normcore pragmatist who let his design work speak the loudest.
But no Miyake-wearing celebrity comes close to the energy and influence of *Beyoncé voice* Grace Joooones.

 

Ballet Flats Are Trending — But They’re Actually Terrible for Your Feet
Stars like Jennifer Lopez may be bringing back this simple shoe, but podiatrists warn against wearing them.
Ahh, the ballet flat. It’s a favorite footwear trend that seemingly never goes out of style (at least not for long). You can slip them on as you’re heading out the door without needing to fiddle with buckles or straps, and the shoe pairs well with virtually any ensemble, from jeans and a tee to a dress and a blazer.
But you know what they say: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, the beloved ballet flat is no exception. According to medical professionals, ballet flats are bad for your feet, so you might want to re-think making this shoe your go-to — even as they rise in popularity for 2022.

 

Serena Williams Reflects on Her Life in Looks: From Nike Catsuits to Camp Gucci
“The French Open was kind of upset about it,” tennis legend Serena Williams says of that instantly iconic —and controversial— black catsuit she wore at the 2018 French Open. Williams is certainly no stranger to sparking conversations with her fashion. The seven-time Wimbledon champ has spent nearly three decades dominating the court, wearing everything from denim-on-denim competition looks to Virgil Abloh-designed tutus. In a new video, Williams sits down with Vogue to revisit some of her most memorable looks on and off the court.

 

Everything You Need to Know About Mourvedre
Mourvedre is best-known as a blending grape, though it also produces excellent wines on its own.
Despite the fact that it can produce excellent wines on its own, Mourvedre is one of those grape varieties that is best known as a blending partner. It plays a key role in the great red blends of the Rhône Valley, and is one of the marquis components of Australia’s beloved GSM blends (GSM, after all, stands for Grenache – Syrah – Mourvedre). On its own, Mourvedre is dominant in the French wine region of Bandol, where it produces reds and rosés of serious depth and character. In Spain and California, where it’s known as Monastrell and Mataro, respectively, the variety is capable of producing wines that balance fruit and more savory tones beautifully.

 

The Best Snack in Every State (and Where to Find Them)
How many of these have you tried?
Narrowing down the choices was a tough job, made easier by one stipulation — in order to be considered, the food in question needed to be able to ship without a lot of effort. (In other words, probably no dry ice.)
While the primary goal of our state-by-state projects is finding the very best of everything, we’ve also aspired to paint a broad picture of American food culture, and to celebrate the considerable breadth and diversity of what’s on offer, from sophisticated tinned seafood in the Pacific Northwest to the humble but mighty boiled peanut in the Deep South.
For this reason, you won’t find potato chips representing 25 different states, even if we can think of at least that many worthy regional favorites, nearly off the top of our heads. Who knows — maybe that’s the next list.

 

5 Common Burger Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Whether you’re grilling a beef patty in the backyard or crafting the perfect veggie version in your kitchen, these tips will help you make the perfect burger every time.
Burgers are one of those essential foods to learn to cook at home. Despite the ubiquity of them on menus from drive-thru to fast casual to fine-dining establishments, a great burger you create yourself is a staple for even the most unpracticed home cook. On the surface, a burger is one of the easiest things to make: some ground protein or grains formed into a patty, a hot grill or skillet, and all you need to do is break out the buns. But that doesn’t mean all of us haven’t been faced with burgers that are charred on the outside and raw within, or come out with the texture of rubber. Here are the five most common mistakes we all have made when cooking burgers. Avoiding them puts you that much closer to burger perfection.

 

Lena Hall Responds to Sean Bean’s Controversial Take on Intimacy Coordinators
In his interview with British publication The Times, Bean said that intimacy coordinators, whose job is to choreograph sex and other intimate scenes in order to ensure the safety and comfort of the actors involved, “spoil the spontaneity” of sex scenes.
Bean explained, “I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise.”

The actor also referenced his experiences on the show Snowpiercer with co-star Lena Hall: “I suppose it depends on the actress,” Bean said. “[Lena Hall] had a musical cabaret background, so she was up for anything.”
Hall responded to a Variety article about the actor’s comments with a Twitter thread. The actress clarified that her background does not mean she is down for anything, expressed that she is pro-having intimacy coordinators on set, and said that her experience with Bean on the show was a positive and respectful one.

 

How Angus Cloud Survived a Broken Skull and Became ‘Euphoria’s’ Stoner Icon
“Euphoria” is Cloud’s first acting job, and he was literally plucked off the street for the role. “I was with some friends,” he says. “We were just hanging out.” Casting scout Eléonore Hendricks, who specializes in street casting, spotted him while walking through Brooklyn one night. He then found himself reading for casting director Jennifer Venditti, who was eager to populate creator Sam Levinson’s series with naturalistic actors. “People think, ‘Oh, he just shows up. He’s just this lazy stoner,’” Venditti says. “Angus doesn’t get enough credit.”

 

What It’s Like To Be An Abortion Doula And Clinic Staffer In The US Post Roe
It’s been barely over six weeks since Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, but already the lack of legal protection for abortion care is being felt across the US. Clinics are closing around the country, doctors are being forced to choose between doing their best to help pregnant patients and following the law, and a generation of young people has been systematically disempowered from controlling their own reproductive autonomy.
To the extent that there’s any good news here, it’s this: Abortion providers and clinic staffers in states where abortion remains legal are still working around the clock (in fact, often harder than ever before) to provide their patients with a full spectrum of options. Recently, Vogue spoke to one of them – an abortion doula and clinic staffer in Maine, where 31 per cent of counties have no abortion clinics – under the condition of anonymity to get a sense of how her vital and often challenging work has evolved since the overturning of Roe.

 

Westworld’s Costume Designer Keeps Getting DMs About This Fan-Favorite Look
Debra Beebe discusses moving Hale out of the boardroom with her style—and the belted black number viewers are loving.
If you’ve kept up with Westworld—HBO’s Emmy-winning, dystopian, sci-fi thriller—for all four of its seasons, then your head might be spinning while deciphering the drama’s barrage of plot twists. Main characters like this season’s Christina (Evan Rachel Wood), Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), Maeve Millay (Thandiwe Newton), and Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul), find themselves on a never-ending loop across time, traversing fantasy realms inspired by the old West, the 1920s, and even futuristic elements. It makes sense, then, that the show’s whirlwind feel is closely familiar for costume designer Debra Beebe, who leads the costuming for season 4.

 

Ernst Lubitsch Made the Hollywood Comedy Sublime
His acolyte Billy Wilder is better remembered, but Lubitsch’s wit reigns supreme.
n the summer of 1943, the playwright and screenwriter Samson Raphaelson received word that Ernst Lubitsch, the Berlin-born director of such incandescent Hollywood comedies as “Trouble in Paradise,” “The Shop Around the Corner,” and “Heaven Can Wait,” had suffered a fatal heart attack. Raphaelson, who had written scripts for those films and for many others, set about composing a tribute to Lubitsch, extolling him in terms that few other directors of the era elicited: “However great the cinema historians will eventually estimate him, he was bigger as a person. He was genuinely modest. He never sought fame or coveted prizes … He was as free from guile and pretense as children are supposed to be, and this made him endlessly various and charming.”

 

Armie Hammer’s Alleged Victims Speak Out in House of Hammer Trailer
The three-part docuseries from Discovery+ dives into the allegations against the exiled Hollywood actor, as well as the “dark and twisted secrets” of his family.
The saga of Armie Hammer and the Hammer dynasty is far from over. Discovery+ has released the first trailer for House of Hammer, a docuseries detailing the allegations against the actor and “the dark and twisted secrets” of the Hammer family.
The three-part docuseries takes a deep look at the allegations of emotional abuse, manipulation, and sexual violence that brought Hammer’s flourishing Hollywood career to a standstill in 2021, a saga previously examined by Vanity Fair’s Julie Miller in a story called “The Fall of the House of Hammer.” (Hammer has repeatedly denied the allegations leveled against him via his lawyer, Andrew Brettler. With the help of friend Robert Downey Jr., he also checked himself into a rehab facility last year.) In the trailer, two of Hammer’s alleged victims, Courtney Vucekovich and Julia Morrison, detail their experiences with the Social Network actor, providing screenshots of messages and voice memos of their alleged conversations with Hammer, which often involved the actor sharing cannibalistic fantasies and sexual fetishes.

 

Cary Grant Biopic Series Starring Jason Isaacs In Lead Role Set For ITV & BritBox International
Archie will start with his birth in Bristol in 1904 and tell the story of a childhood spent in extreme poverty, dealing with his father’s adultery and the loss of older brother John. At 14, he joined music hall act the Bob Pender Troupe and moved to the U.S. and, soon after, Cary Grant was born.
The show will intercut scenes from 1961 when, at the height of his fame, Grant was desperately unhappy in his private life after two failed marriages. Grant then began wooing TV star Dyan Cannon, who was 30 years his junior and didn’t immediately fall for his charms. He married her in 1965 and retired from film acting one year later.

 

The search for an AC that doesn’t destroy the planet
The AC is about a century old. What comes next?
Amid a growing number of heat waves, air conditioners have become a lifeline. Because these appliances are critical to keeping people cool — and protecting them from dangerously hot weather — the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that there may be more than 5 billion air conditioners across the planet by 2050. The problem is that while air conditioners do keep people safe, they’re also a major contributor to climate change. So why not rethink the AC entirely?

 

It’s okay to be envious. It can even be a good thing.
Let envy be a motivator instead of holding you back.
There are many human emotions we’re told are unsavory. Seven of them have even been lumped together and deemed deadly: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.
Not only does society cast these sentiments in a negative light, but they aren’t super fun to experience, either. Envy, in particular, is one feeling we don’t enjoy sitting with for long. It’s uncomfortable to feel covetous or less-than when someone in our circle has something we want, like a supportive group of friends or a rewarding career. When everyone we know — and many people we don’t — constantly broadcast their wins and extravagances online, envy can rear its head more frequently than we’d like.

 

The Power of Hugs in Anime
Anime is an art form characterized by exaggeration — overblown facial features, impossible hair, crazy gestures and absurd reactions. Even in the more subtle examples of the genre, there’s still often a sense of extravagance, perhaps even melodrama, conveyed through atmospheric music or delicate animation.
An embrace between lovers or family or friends is an expression of intimacy that anime can magnify. A hug is a kind of surrender, the meeting of the vulnerable parts of two people, who touch belly to belly, chest to chest, heart to heart.

 

In Italy, Where Pizza Was Born, Domino’s Bows Out
The company entered the Italian market
It turns out that Italians don’t necessarily like pineapple on their pizza, after all. Or at least not enough to keep nearly three dozen Domino’s Pizza franchises afloat.
Last month, the Italian outlets of the American pizza conglomerate extinguished their pizza ovens, unable to win over picky palates in the place where pizza was invented.
Though the company’s Italian website remained live, outlets in Turin, Parma, Rome and elsewhere offered the same discouraging message: “Sun. to Sat. CLOSED.” Domino’s international map was more up-to-date. It listed 90 international markets, but Italy was not among them.in 2015, but seems to have been done in by a proliferation of home-delivery food during the pandemic and a desire for more artisanal pies.

 

Everything to Know About Halloween at Disney World
Disney World’s Halloween season is unlike any other time of year. The resort’s enchanting year-round magic is amplified with jaw-dropping decor, delicious bites, and spooky surprises.
The bewitching hour is here! Walt Disney World is summoning all ghouls and goblins to relish in their longest season: Halloween. The festivities begin in early August and run until the big night, October 31. That’s right. As much of the country is still squeezing out the last few moments of summer, the most magical place on Earth is rolling out the red (or orange) carpet for oversized pumpkins and ghostly sights.
Disney World Halloween is unlike any other time of year. The resort’s enchanting year-round magic is amplified with jaw-dropping decor, delicious bites, and spooky surprises. Visitors can enjoy a bounty of themed limited-time goodies and sellout merchandise or snag a spot at the ticketed festivities that will rival any theme park event. Yes — the fan-favorite Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is back!
 

[Photo Credit: Oleg Bajura/abandpartners.net, blueriver.md]

• T LOunge

The post T LOunge for August 11th, 2022 appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

Ancient Greek sculpture is pearly white to us but the ancients themselves wouldn’t recognise the statues in museums today

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

This post, how do office relaxation/recharge rooms work? , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes:

I’ve convinced my boss to dedicate a spare office to a recharge/relaxation room, to give employees a place to unwind, get away from their cube mates, meditate, make a private phone call, stretch, etc. It would also serve as a private location for nursing moms to pump (we don’t have any nursing moms currently, just planning for future employees’ comfort). I’m doing some research now on the best way to set it up, but I’m getting confused.

I’ve seen these wellness rooms mentioned on your site in various situations, but I’m starting from scratch so I’m asking – for those who have these at your work, what are the best amenities to have? What never gets used? Is scheduling time difficult? (Obviously nursing moms would get first priority for scheduling.) Do employees abuse it much and “disappear” for hours? If so, how to control it? Or do the rooms never get used and it’s a waste of money and effort?

We do have funds to use for wellness and employee safety (we’re government, as you can see) but I want to use it in the most effective way. I’d appreciate any input.

I thought this was an interesting change of pace. Have at it in the comments section.

Dakota Johnson gets to take her shot at an Austen heroine.

 

 

 

 

This looks cute and we love the casting.

 

 

We’re a little surprised to see a release like this in mid-summer, since it feels like the perfect holiday film. We’ll admit that we would have rolled our eyes at the idea of Dakota Johnson playing the lead in a Jane Austen adaptation five years ago, but she’s proven herself to be a good actress with a certain droll coolness that makes her perfect for a character like Anne Elliott. The accent seems to be on point. And it’s never a bad idea to sit around looking at Richard E. Grant being stuffy or Henry Golding being dreamy. It’s pretty people in beautiful costumes sitting around in gorgeous settings while working their way through problems of no consequence. We’re in.

 

PERSUASION
Global Release Date: July 15, 2022

DIRECTOR: Carrie Cracknell
SCREENPLAY BY: Ron Bass & Alice Victoria Winslow
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY: Jane Austen
PRODUCERS: Andrew Lazar (Mad Chance), Christina Weiss Lurie (Fourth & Twenty Eight Films), MRC Film
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Elizabeth Cantillon (Bisous Pictures), Michael Constable, David Fliegel
CAST: Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Richard E. Grant, Henry Golding, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Ben Bailey-Smith, Yolanda Kettle, Nia Towle, Izuka Hoyle

Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth—the dashing one she once sent away—crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances. Adapted from the Jane Austen novel.

 

 

[Photo Credit: Netflix – Video Credit: Netflix/YouTube]

• Ben Bailey-Smith
• Cosmo Jarvis
• Dakota Johnson
• Henry Golding
• Izuka Hoyle
• Mia McKenna-Bruce
• Movie Previews
• Netflix
• Nia Towle
• Nikki Amuka-Bird
• Persuasion
• Previews
• Richard E. Grant
• Yolanda Kettle

The post Dakota Johnson, Richard E. Grant, and Henry Golding in Netflix’s PERSUASION | Official Trailer, Images and Key Art appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

I came to Sonic Youth just as they were getting old. As fate would have it, the band released their easing-into-middle-age resurgence record the same month I graduated from high school. I can’t say for sure whether most old heads considered Murray Street a return to form upon its release 20 years ago this Saturday, though the rave reviews sure gave me that impression. “If you’ve never heard them before this is a great place to start,” opined the BBC’s Nick Reynolds. “It’s one of their best, and an object lesson to any pretender.” What this one-time pretender can confirm is that Murray Street kicked off a prolific final stretch for Sonic Youth, one marked by thrilling live shows and rewarding records aplenty.

In a new campaign, Jessica Chastain portrays the stories behind the intricately crafted, maximalist pieces of the third Hortus Deliciarum High Jewelry collection.

To evoke the narrative behind Alessandro Michele’s third Hortus Deliciarum High Jewelry collection, Oscar-winning American actress and film producer Jessica Chastain plays an eclectic collector of mementos and memories. In the film and photographs, a peek into the protagonist’s home reveals an opulent trove of souvenirs accumulated throughout her life’s travels. Mimicking the splendor of a voyage, these special items, masterfully crafted with precious gemstones including emeralds, aquamarines, opals, and rubellites, tell stories and secrets of faraway places.

In the storytelling of the new collection, Alessandro Michele takes on the role of mythographer. Inspired by the 18th-century Grand Tour trips, he creates a dreamlike map of memories suspended in time and space through 200 poetic pieces. Five destinations and five chapters define this travelogue, with each meticulously made creation containing the magnetic rapture of a place through intricate designs and magnificent gemstones. In the campaign, it is Jessica Chastain’s character who has seemingly taken this transcendent trip to extraordinary lands.

 

 

 

 

Photographer & Director: Mert & Marcus

 

[Photo Credit: Mert & Marcus, Courtesy of Gucci]

• Ad Campaigns
• Gucci
• Jessica Chastain
• Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

The post Jessica Chastain Stars in Gucci’s Hortus Deliciarum High Jewelry Campaign appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

While reviewing some old film footage of a 1970 teacher’s strike stored in the archives of WCCO in Minneapolis, a production manager stumbled across an amazing artifact: a brief interview with Prince. I love when they show the clip to his childhood friends for confirmation that it’s actually him. (via, who else, anil)

Update: The NY Times did a piece on the discovery of the video.

Short as the interview is, it gives context to the causes Prince would later support, such as public education, labor rights and fair compensation for artists, said Elliott H. Powell, a professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota who teaches a course on Prince.

The interview with the young Prince was conducted in north Minneapolis, a predominantly Black part of the city where young activists led uprisings in the 1960s protesting police brutality, the harassment of young Black people in white-owned businesses, and commercial development that was decimating the neighborhood, Professor Powell said.

“Prince is growing up in that environment and seeing the impact of Black youth activists,” he said.

Tags: Prince   video

This post, the axe thrower, the carpet glue, and other astounding first impressions made by new employees , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

Last week I asked about the most astounding first impression you’ve seen made by a new coworker. Here are some of my favorite stories you shared.

1. The axe

We had a guy apply for a staff job. His very first day he was helping clean up brush along the edge of a mountain biking course. One of the other staff said “when you’re done with that axe, I need it,” and the new guy proceeded to say “OK” and THROW THE AXE AT HIM. It went within a yard of his torso. New guy’s first day was his last day. He protested that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, he just didn’t think about the risk, and was told “Look, we know you didn’t mean it, but you’re so stupid you’re dangerous.”

2. The beneficiary

New hire insisted on naming himself as the beneficiary on his life insurance policy “in case I’m around when it pays out.”

3. The men

Years ago I worked in the cataloging department of a library. No public there at all, ever, just staff. Our New Hire had been at work about 2 hours when she asked, “Where are the men?” “uh, what men?” we replied. “MEN! I took this job so I could meet MEN!” She marched to her desk, gathered up her belongings, and stormed out, never to return.

4. The dinner

We had a new hire and there was a work dinner with clients his first week.

He got loudly drunk and started asking “okay.. so who’s f—king who at this table? I need to know the lay (ha ha) of the land.”

At times, I’ve felt like my company was too slow dealing with extremely problematic employees. But they moved fairly quickly in this case.

5. The security guard

I work at a commercial property management company and we have security guards on duty 24/7. We hired a guard to start on a Thursday at midnight who no-called no showed. He came into the office the next day with a friend, asked me for some Gatorade and told me he and his friend would be working together (that’s . . . not how it works).

We told him to go the security desk and train in if he still wanted to work, and he agreed. He went to the desk and told the guard on duty he would be back in an hour because he had to “take care of something” and never came back. We called him and told him it wasn’t going to work out, so he called everyone in the company he could get a number for and told him we couldn’t fire him before he started.

6. The oblivious new hire

Manager hired someone from a conference without conducting any interviews. First day she walks up to the administrative assistant and asks for a list of who she gets to “boss around” (in those terms).

(Then later, when a small local conference took place she introduced herself as the “Improved [name of former person in that position]” … to the person who used to be in that position and had left to a different local job which was a step up in terms of position.)

Not great at reading a room.

7. The shoes

I was wearing slides that had a bit of fluff over the toes. New hire yelped when she saw them, bent down, AND PROCEEDED TO PET them. It was both horrifying and delightful (as I knew it would be a funny work story for years). It was 22 years ago and it’s still a top story.

8. The disaster

The New Guy sat behind me, in the other half of the shared cubicle.

Day 1: He spent his entire day making a chart on graph paper, of every writing implement that the last person had left on/in that desk, with a column for each writing implement’s nickname, long description, and examples of solid and dashed lines. This despite me giving him the standard training materials and a practice assignment to complete.

Day 2: First thing in the morning he asked me a lot of questions, then told me my answers to each was wrong – in each instance running down his whole resume of how he’d done things “in my last 20 jobs” (the guy wasn’t old enough to have had 20 jobs unless the average tenure was +/- 3 months.) After he was done with me he moved on to my supervisor in the next cubicle, who had heard the whole thing and repeated everything I told him. After lunch he moved on to one of the higher-ups in the big offices, barging in on a closed door to repeat all the questions and complain about our previous answers. That guy marched him back to his desk, told him not to do that again, and to direct all his questions to me.

Day 3: He brought in a radio and played it loudly. I told him that wouldn’t go over well in that firm. He told me I was wrong. 5 minutes later people from all over the office started coming by to complain. He would turn the radio down, then gradually inch it up again to loud. The guy from the closed office came and yanked the cord out and walked away with the radio.

Day 4: The partner in charge of the office announced a full staff meeting in half an hour. New Guy decided to impress him by making coffee for everyone. But he didn’t put the coffee pots under the machines. A coffee river started rolling by our cubicles and everybody but New Guy rushed in with paper towels.

Day 5: New Guy played video games all day. I didn’t do anything about it because at least he was quiet and not flooding the office. Around 3 PM he handed in his two weeks notice. The boss said that’s ok, you can leave today and not come back. New Guy applied for unemployment. Maybe that was the plan all along.

When I was cleaning up his space for the next guy, I found a little notebook in which he’d recorded his judgements about each of us coworkers. They weren’t kind. Leaving that behind was probably also intentional.

9. The MLM

When we hired a new rep for a call center I used to manage, she spent the better part of her first week pushing her awful jewelry MLM to everyone in the office. She didn’t understand what she was doing wrong (despite being shown in our handbook that sales of any kind (think: Girl Scout Cookies or fundraisers not sponsored by the company) were not allowed.

It might not have been so bad, but she was terribly pushy, saying things like “I know for a fact everyone here can afford $5!”, and had told another new hire during orientation that she mainly got this job to obtain a “new customer base”. She refused to stop harassing others with her toxic pyramid scheme (many who would be ON the phone with a customer. She would tell them to put them on hold briefly so she could give them the newest catalogue). Thankfully she left before being shown the door, probably because she realized she wasn’t going to make a dime in this office.

10. The carpet glue

Many moons ago, I worked for a company that rented office space on the third floor of a building that was showing its age. In particular, the elevator made some weird noises. The certificate in the elevator was also not up to date, although we were told that the current certificate was on file somewhere. We had a new hire, let’s call him Bo, who was especially vocal about the elevator.

One night in his first month of work, Bo was especially determined to take a smoke break. Unfortunately, the building owner was replacing the carpet. At the time of Bo’s smoke break, the carpet layers were replacing the carpet on the one and only staircase. Bo refused to use the elevator and he REALLY wanted his smoke break, so he decided to use the stairs anyway. The stairs that were covered with super sticky, smelly carpet glue. He walked through the glue-covered stairs, got to the second floor, and realized that his shoes are now gross. He decides to use the second floor bathroom to try to clean them. The carpet has already been replaced on the second floor, so he and his glue-covered shoes are now walking on brand new carpet. The carpet layers were trying to get him to stop but did not speak English; they put a carpet scrap down on the floor in front of him so he could wipe his shoes off. He JUMPED OVER the scrap and continued to the bathroom, where he apparently made another mess.

Building management was obviously not happy and complained to my boss. Boss was out of town and asked me to let Bo go before he got back. (There had been other issues involving Bo’s attitude, so it was not the first strike, just the funniest.)

11. The cocaine queen

Working as Corp Trainer at a call center. CEO comes storming down to our offices asking who owns a car with a car wrap on the hood that says “Cocaine Queen.” We find out whose car it is and tell them they can’t park the car in the office parking lot because it isn’t appropriate. She gets indignant and tells us that it is her “stage name” she worked nights as an exotic dancer. When we tell her that is fine, but it can’t be parked in the parking lot, she tells us that she picks her kids up from school and no one has ever said it wasn’t appropriate.

12. The geese

This wasn’t their fault at all but I’ve never forgotten it. I happened to look out the window as one of the new hires was walking towards the building. He noticed that there were geese in the fountain and detoured to go look at them. They had nested and if you know anything about Canadian geese, they can be vicious! The geese started chasing him, he freaked out, ran around to get away from them, slipped on the geese poop, landed on his back in the grass, and had 4 geese honking at him. Poor guy came in covered in poop and wet grass. I told him to go home and we would try again tomorrow.

13. The hero

We hired a new volunteer manager at my mid-sized nonprofit. Young guy, not completely new to work but only a couple years out of school. His role has very little authority built in – he recruits volunteers, gives them the orientation spiel, and then hands them off to the department manager where they’ll be working. Well his first group volunteer orientation comes around and because Covid, it’s being held on Zoom. Because it’s New Guy’s first one, our CEO has logged in to say hello and whatnot. Well apparently CEO logged in from his phone in his vehicle because New Guy stops the orientation and PUBLICLY ASKS HIS BOSS’S BOSS’S BOSS’S BOSS NOT TO ZOOM WHILE DRIVING. He did, all is well, and I’ve never been so impressed with someone in my life!

14. The skunk

This happened to me – first day of new job and my dog got sprayed by a skunk that morning. You know how bad skunk smell is, I showered multiple times, sprayed air freshener on my clothes, etc. I knew it was still on me but it was my first day and I was young and so scared to call and say I wasn’t going to show up. I thought I would look like a flake. So I went and I could immediately tell how overpowering it was. I swear, people looked like they wanted to vomit as soon as I got close to them. I guess they were too polite to say anything, and I was just trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. Manager called me in the office and told me to go home. He was nice about it. When I went back the next day I could still smell the skunk smell lingering in my chair / office area. They must have hated me! No one ever said anything. I am gone from there now, but I always wonder if people at the office thought of me as Skunk Lady.

15. The office supplies

So many years ago I hired a new receptionist (we can call her Erma) to manage our busy front office. Erma interviewed very well with myself and the rest of the hiring team and had prior experience that included some great references.

One of the receptionist’s responsibilities were ordering office supplies for the company. Erma was provided with an account with a local office supply company and could order whatever was needed within reason. Anything over a certain amount, or including items needing special approval, would trigger and e-mail asking for me to review and provide approval. Erma went through training on how to order office supplies and was given a list of items we normally stock along with our monthly supply budget. The former receptionist who was doing most of Erma’s training was very pleased with her positive attitude and how quickly she seemed to be picking up on her new tasks. No red flags at all.

Fast forward a week and Erma’s first day after her finishing her training was off to a good start. She was showed up a little early and was busy rearranging her new work area and making it her own. She said she noticed that there were a few things that would make her life easier such as a pop up post it note dispenser and clip boards to make it easier for candidates coming in to complete paperwork. I told her that I was totally fine with that and to go ahead and order what she needed. Later on that day I get an e-mail from the supplier….Erma had ordered…. an expensive new chair for herself, a side desk, a lamp, a coat rack, a computer stand, an ergonomic keyboard, a light up bathroom mirror, pink glitter pens, pink chair cover, foot rest, artwork for the wall, a pink fuzzy rug, about 20 bags of candy, and a candy dish, a bunch of fancy lotions and soaps along with matching dispensers… and those are the items I remember!! The invoice was several thousands of dollars.

I thought this has to be an accident. So I approached her on it and she said oh no it was very much her doing. I explained to her why this was not ok as it was way over budget and included many items that require special approval such as furniture and artwork and she pitched a fit! How can she work in this environment? Her chair was too high, the office was drab, the pens all blue and black… lack of a candy dish is soooooo uninviting…. and forcing her to work in such an environment would be bad for her health. I showed her how her chair was adjustable and told her I was fine if she wanted the special pens and a couple of bags of candy, but we just did not have the budget, or the authority to purchase those other items. Corporate had a specific “look” for the office and well pink fuzzy rugs were not part of our corporate colors or their vision. She had a full-blown toddler fit and said she could not work with such a micromanager and she left. The next day she tried to show up to work like nothing happened. Security turned her away at the door. A few months later she actually put me down as a reference for a new job. I told them that I was not comfortable being a reference for her. I will never forget Erma!

16. The terrible judgment

I had to train a new accountant for another manufacturing plant in our company. He came down to our company was immediately set everyone’s back up because he knew everything about everything and WOULD NOT SHUT UP. And I’m talking stuff he literally didn’t know anything about, like arguing with the middle aged lady with 2 kids about how much it costs to raise children, him being a 21 year old unmarried just out of college young man. He rearranged the furniture in my office because he felt “trapped” behind the L-shaped desk during training, and would randomly make barnyard animal noises while he was working on the computer (like random moos, or snorting like a pig or whatever..appropo of nothing, just like a tic or something). I muddled through the training steadfastly ignoring his utter weirdness, just telling myself everyone is different, it’s not on me to judge.

He went back to the plant after training, and OH BOY. Apparently he unplugged his desk phone because “people kept calling him and he didn’t want to have to figure out the answers” he was told multiple times by multiple people, up to the plant manager that he had to leave it plugged in, and he just kept unplugging it each day. After a couple weeks he went straight to the plant manager (this was an entry level accounting position) and demanded a raise, because he was so much smarter than everyone else he was working with. He caused such a ruckus over this that he was eventually frog marched out the plant by security and told never to return. And this is a company where previous employees might stop by and hang with old coworkers, ie super chill. After all this went down a couple of us did some after the fact digging and found his FB page which was a veritable hotbed of wackadoodle conspiracy theories and nonsense. Turns out his first impression was indeed correct.

17. The mistake

I was in my 20s, working at a new job in marketing. I had recently read a memoir of someone who seemed confident and funny, if a little bit of a mess, and she was relating tales from her previous jobs. For some reason, I thought that using some of her language at work would help me portray the image of myself that I wanted–smart, funny, perceptive, a little irreverent. So, in a meeting with my boss and a couple other people, I offered an insightful critique of a proposed marketing campaign: “I think this would be us blowing our wad too early.”

18. The student worker

I was asked to see if I could find the brand new student worker who was supposed to be staffing a front line desk, as everyone who walked past noticed no one was sitting there. I happened to go around the desk- and discovered her sitting underneath the desk, absorbed with her phone. (She’d taken off her shoes, for an added touch.) I politely asked her to sit in the chair. She climbed out from under the desk, said something about not feeling “people-y” today, and sat in the chair, eyes never leaving her phone.

19. The temp

We had a temp-to-hire in an office setting that seemed normal in a short interview, but the crazy came out strong in her first week. She was stressed out her first morning about having left her bird home alone all day. She talked about having connections to the mob. She also spent a fair amount of time complaining about the work she had to do – which was exactly the tasks and responsibilities discussed in the interview.

And then about day 3, she said she was a medium and told a coworker she had a message for them from a dead relative, but would only relay the message if the coworker went to lunch with her. A little emotional blackmail anyone?

Fortunately, she only lasted a week. But what a week it was!

20. The coding genius

Someone joined my team fresh out of school. A few months into it he said he was going to teach himself to code to figure out a problem that was pretty complicated. I was sort of like “yeah, OK, cool” and figured he’d take months to do it, never do it, or it was just the start of a longer learning process.

I was wrong.

Somehow he self-taught a coding language in a week and googled all of the glitches and hitches that would’ve stopped most senior people in their tracks.

He realized he had a huge talent for it and eventually left to be more data focused.

Inside the Super Positive Community of Competitive YouTube Water Drinkers. "You do kinda have to follow some rules — it's not just laissez-faire hydration out there." [vice.com]

"Have you ever wondered how a book becomes a book?" Great look at the printing process for Marlon James' Moon Witch, Spider King. [nytimes.com]

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Gold pig charms that hide a tiny erotic photo viewed by peering into the pig's butt hole

The most expensive television series in history just revealed its title and it’s a minor bombshell:

 

 

 

We will state upfront that we could very easily be wrong about this, but every image (like the one above, released last year), cast announcement, direction, and now title reveal makes us believe that this series is in good hands and that the people involved know what they’re doing. Call it a hunch. The title reveal, like the teaser image above, really only contains information that would be of interest to the harder-core Tolkien nerds. It all doesn’t add up to much information at first glance, but it all reveals that the series will take place in Middle Earth’s Second Age (thousands of years before the Fellowship of the Ring was formed), that the lost civilization of Numenor will be central to the story, and now, that the focus will be on the forging of the Rings of Power, back when Sauron had a body, men and elves enjoyed an epic alliance, Galadriel was young and feisty, Gandalf hadn’t entered the world yet, and the ring wraiths were just a bunch of greedy-ass human fuck-ups. This is all highly unexplored territory from a filmed perspective, but Tolkien himself left huge gaps in this history, even with all the extensive notes and appendices taken into consideration. The show’s creators have a significant amount of leeway to tell their tales, but as Tolkien scholar and series consultant Tom Shippey put it, they’re in “a bit of a minefield,” since the Tolkien estate will only allow the adaptation if it does nothing to alter the history Tolkien already established.  We may regret these words, but as it stands, based on what little we’ve learned, we really can’t wait for this to come out. We have faith. And that’s why the information has been specifically tailored to get Tolkien nerds like us excited. Because they’ll all flap their hands excitedly and tell you what it all means.

 

Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.

Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

A new age begins September 2, 2022. Journey to Middle-earth with “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”

 

 

[Photo Credit: Amazon Studios – Video Credit: Amazon Prime Video/YouTube]

• Amazon Studios
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• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
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The post “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Title Reveal Is for the Tolkien Nerds appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

My least favorite thing about chocolate chip cookies is the chocolate chips, so this recipe speaks to me: "1. Follow literally any chocolate chip cookie recipe. 2. Omit the step where you add the chocolate chips." [jonnysun.bulletin.com]

"Every home in the U.S. can soon order 4 free at-home COVID-19 tests." No shipping costs, ordering begins Jan 19. [covidtests.gov]

A list of the best data visualization lists of 2021. Lots of fantastic work in here. [maartenlambrechts.com]

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