Some of us are in week two of quarantine, some of us are in week three, but it’s impossible to tell in any case because it’s all blurring together. What day is it? Muesday, March 98th? That sounds about right. Not only do we all need some kind of entertainment to keep our spirits up, we need it to stay sane.

So, on that note,

Jack Black made a TikTok account.

If there is one thing I didn’t know I needed but I absolutely needed during this severely bleak time in history, it’s Jack Black dancing to pop music in cowboy boots and not much else. This does two things: breathes life back into me, and also affirm that throughout all this chaos, Jack Black is still doing okay, and I am immensely grateful for both.

Enjoy, retweet, sign up for TikTok purely for Jack Black.

Editor’s note: The deadline on this piece was extended due to the coronavirus crisis.

When Jonathan Guyer thinks of the typical high school essay contest, he gets annoyed.

The managing editor of the American Prospect, a bimonthly public policy magazine that centers on liberalism and progressivism, says the majority of book-based essay contests for teenagers tout the benefits of capitalism, but don’t give students the chance to understand how markets work in the first place.

“Famously, the Ayn Rand Institute’s essay competition has been an incubator for conservative thinking — former House Speaker Paul Ryan comes to mind,” Guyer says. “Some of our colleagues thought it was important to give students a similar crash course, except in how the economy really works, taking into account issues of race, class, and power.”

Rand, best known for her novels the The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which promoted her philosophy of individualism over collectivism, has been called the “darling of the U.S. right” by The Guardian. President Donald Trump has name-dropped her work, and Ryan credited the author for inspiration to go into public service. Ryan also gifted members of his staff with copies of Rand’s books, according to Politico.

But staffers at the American Prospect say young people should also be exposed to other philosophies and worldviews when they’re in high school. So they’ve launched an essay contest of their own.

The inaugural American Prospect contest will give high school students the chance to read one of four books focused on the economy’s intersection with poverty, race, democracy, and markets, and then submit an essay that explores “where the economy falls short and what we might do about it.”

“The point of this competition is not to pander to young readers by giving them easy reads,” Guyer explains. “We want to expose them to a challenging set of real-world narratives that every adult ought to consider.”

For high school freshman and sophomores, the books to choose from are Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond, and Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. Juniors and seniors can choose from Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich, and The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson.

“These are all books that students might not necessarily get in the classroom,” Guyer says. “What’s it like to scrape by in the low-wage economy? What was the experience of the Great Migration? How are corporations driving government policy? We’re thrilled about the chance for students to think through these issues. Down the line, we’re going to need their help in solving them.”

According to the American Prospect’s executive editor, David Dayen, the 30-year-old magazine aims to use the contest as a way to expose progressive ideas to a younger generation.

Guyer points out that only 10% of the magazine’s readers are under the age of 24. “Most of our readers probably find us for the first time in college,” he says. “We wanted to get the ideas we care about in front of high school students and to bring students’ own perspectives into our pages.”

The winning essays will be selected by the magazine’s staff and prizes range from $2,500 to $10,000, along with 40 honorable-mention winners who will receive $100. Winning essays will be published online and in print, and the deadline is May 3.

Although he released his debut album, Destination, near 2019’s end, Rostrum’s Rockie Fresh keeps new music coming with his first new track of 2020, “Let It Be.”

“[I’ve] been in the studio a lot and sitting on a ton of music,” Rockie says, “so stay tuned for more.”

Listen below.

Rockie Fresh – “Let It Be” was last modified: March 31st, 2020 by Meka

Yet another major production has reportedly been put on hold for the time being. The currently untitled Spider-Man 3, which will see Tom Holland return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe following last summer’s Far From Home, is rumored to hit the pause button. It joins other major comic book movies such as The Batman and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as big 2021 releases that have been affected by the shutdown brought on by current events.

According to a new report that is going over the wide-ranging implications of the Hollywood shutdown, it was revealed that Spider-Man 3 has also been put on hold for the time being. The plan had been to begin filming in July, which means Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios were undoubtedly in pre-production before the things escalated to where they are now. There is no word currently on how long the delay is expected to last, but the situation has been evolving rapidly and has proved to be unpredictable.

RELATED: Spider-Man 3 Gets The Avengers Cinematographer

With movie theaters shut down all around the world and with productions on pause on both the TV and movie side of things, the entertainment industry is bleeding cash right now. A number of high-profile releases have had their release dates pushed back, including Mulan, Black Widow, F9, A Quiet Place: Part II and No Time to Die, amongst others. Sony recently pushed most of its major releases for the year, including Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Morbius, to 2021, with Venom 2 being a notable exception. For now at least. Tom Holland’s schedule could become an issue as the Uncharted movie was recently pushed back as well.

Plot details are largely being kept under wraps for Spider-Man 3 at this time. Jon Watts, who directed both Homecoming and Far From Home, is set to return to round out the trilogy. Tom Holland will be back as Peter Parker, with Zendaya also returning as MJ. We know for sure it will be picking up with the major cliffhanger we were left with at the end of Far From Home, which saw Mysterio revealing Spider-Man’s identity to the world, while also framing him for murder. There is no word yet on who may be the main villain. Chris McKenna penned the screenplay.

The difference with this delay is that the MCU is dependent on the release order. The movies all tie in with one another, to varying degrees. Depending on how this all shakes out, it could end up meaning larger changes for the larger MCU plans, especially with shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision also on the way. Fortunately, for now, Black Widow is the only movie that has had its release date pushed back. That shouldn’t complicate things too much, especially since it’s a prequel. As it stands, Spider-Man 3 is set to arrive in theaters on July 16, 2021. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the situation develops. This news comes to us vi Sight and Sound Magazine.

Topics: Spider-Man 3 MCU, Spider-man

Aries

You need a rebound.

Taurus

You need one last conversation with them in order to receive closure.

Gemini

You need to practice self-love.

Cancer

You need to cut them out of your life permanently.

Leo

You need some time alone to rediscover what you want from this world.

Virgo

You need to rant to someone close who will listen.

Libra

You need to delete them from your phone.

Scorpio

You need to pick up a new hobby or reconnect with some old friends.

Sagittarius

You need to masturbate.

Capricorn

You need to block them on every single form of social media.

Aquarius

You need to forgive them — or forgive yourself — for everything that happened.

Pisces

You need to practice self-care.

Stats don’t lie. At least not the ones that reinforce the dire youth unemployment crisis in South Africa. If truth be told, one does not even need to look at stats to confirm that. Idle youth, unemployed youth and demotivated entrepreneurs in your community probably say it all. To call for a turnaround, the president has announced a flicker of hope at the 2020 State of the Nation Address with his 2020 SONA strategy for young entrepreneurs.

The intervention

It is against this backdrop that the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention will come as a much-needed refreshment. It will span for about half a decade and will be based on six fundamental pillars which convert into focus action points. Without getting caught up in big words and political sensationalism, here’s the crux of the approach to be taken.

Six-point 2020 SONA strategy for young entrepreneurs

1. Create and lure youth into the economy
2. Refine targeted preparation to prepare youth for economic participation in the working world
3. Offer innovative support for youth entrepreneurship
4. Expand efforts to create new jobs by working with TVET colleges and the private sector to offer more students practical workplace experience
5. Offer more opportunities for teen entrepreneurs to earn an income
6. Reallocating budget funds for employment initiatives

The crisis of youth unemployment is one that is tackled from the highest office in the land to that of Tito Mboweni, the minister of finance. Mboweni elaborated on fighting unemployment in his budget speech.

Don’t even begin to think it is a mission for prominent roles; far be it! Raising future leaders is the job of all: parents, youth, community members, corporates and High School Entrepreneurs Societies. 2020 is the year of 20-plenty for SA Teen Entrepreneur as we launched our programme into the Eastern Cape, and March sees us participating in the #3mimpact programme. Working together, we can change the trajectory of this nation into a great story of hope. All is not lost. There is hope in South Africa still.

• President Donald Trump and his leading health advisers dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic offered some grim statistics for Americans in the weeks ahead.
• Statistical models showed that roughly 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from the disease — even if Americans observed the strict social distancing guidelines.
• The forecasted figures are an alarming when put in context with other pandemics and wars.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump and his leading health advisers dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic offered some grim statistics for Americans in the weeks ahead.

Statistical models showed that roughly 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from the disease — even if Americans observed the strict social distancing guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Trump’s coronavirus team.

Trump shifted his tone on Tuesday to reflect the new statistics. He previously described the novel coronavirus as seasonal influenza: “This is a flu. This is like a flu,” Trump said in late February.

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday. “We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks.”

Earlier worst-case scenario estimates predicted around 200,000 to 1.7 million deaths and between 160 million and 214 million infections in the US. As of Tuesday evening, there were over 184,343 cases and 3,796 deaths in the US.

“We really believe we can do a lot better than that,” Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator said during the briefing, adding that it was imperative for people to continue observing health guidelines despite a potential improvement in the near-term.

Birx stressed that there was “no magic bullet, there’s no magic vaccine or therapy” and that the proliferation of the disease depended on human behavior.

The forecasted 100,000 and 240,000 deaths is an alarming number when put into context with other pandemics and wars.

Here are some other CDC statistics on deaths in the US:

• Accidental: 169,936
• Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
• Influenza and pneumonia: 55,672

Pandemics:

• Spanish Flu in 1918-20: 675,000
• H2N2 in 1957-58: 116,000 

US death resulting in direct battle:

• Civil War: 215,000
• World War II: 291,557
• World War I: 53,402
• Vietnam: 47,434
• Korea: 33,739

In a recent appearance on the 755 Is Real Podcast, hosted by The Athletic’s David O’Brien and former Braves reliever Eric O’Flaherty, catcher Evan Gattis confirmed he is “done playing” baseball. Gattis said back in October that he didn’t have any desire to continue playing the game, so this news comes as no surprise.

Gattis, 33, hit .226/.284/.452 with 25 home runs and 78 RBI for the Astros in 2018. The Astros did not extend him a qualifying offer, then $17.9 million. Though reporting on specific offers is scant, it is hard to imagine he received zero offers, or would have received zero offers if he were still interested in playing.

Gattis has one of the more interesting stories out there. He was a well-regarded college baseball prospect, but he battled anxiety and substance abuse. He checked into rehab and, temporarily, abandoned his baseball-related pursuits. Gattis eventually resumed playing college baseball but suffered an injury, prompting him to drop out of college. He went on to take on some not-so-glamorous jobs, including working in a pizza shop, as a parking valet, a ski-lift operator, and a janitor. Gattis battled more mental health issues, suffering from insomnia and depression, resulting in suicidal ideation. He checked into an inpatient psychiatric ward for several days. Afterwards, Gattis roamed around the west coast, going from Colorado to New Mexico to California to Wyoming.

In 2010, Gattis returned to baseball, playing for the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He performed rather well, resulting in his being drafted by the Braves in the 23rd round that year. He worked his way through the minors quickly, debuting in the majors in 2013. The rest, as they say, is history. Gattis retires with a career .248/.300/.476 batting line along with 139 home runs, 410 RBI, and 299 runs scored over 2,662 trips to the plate.

The story of Gattis is an important one because mental health in general was not taken seriously, especially among men. It still isn’t, to a large degree, but it’s better now than it was 10 years ago. Due to social taboos and gender norms, men are much less likely to seek help for mental health issues. That Gattis — a burly avatar of testosterone — was willing to be vulnerable about his struggles with his mental health was important.

Follow @Baer_Bill

You spend basically every weekend shopping with your friends at the mall, but now that we’re all social distancing, that’s not really an option. Luckily, there are a ton of amazing clothing brands you can shop online that stock cute, affordable styles for teens – so when this all ends, you’ll come out looking fierce.

For that very reason, I came up with a short list of online clothing shops – fifteen to be exact – that I believe are the best places to spend your hard-earned cash (or your parents’ *wink wink*). So whether you’re a fashionista searching for the latest trends or just need a good place to buy some tried and true basics, scroll down for some of the best teen clothing stores to shop right now.