Disney/Pixar has unveiled the first teaser trailer for “The Incredibles 2,” which promises to bring back the superhero family last seen in 2004.

“It’s fundamentally a story about family,” director Brad Bird said back in July. “The technology has gotten so much better; we can get them close to what we wanted to do in the [original]. It’s like driving a better car.”

The sequel is set to open on June 15. The plot is still unclear, though Collider reported earlier this year that it will focus on the adventures of Holly Hunter’s Elastigirl. Meanwhile, her husband, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), will be home caring for baby Jack-Jack. Based on the teaser clip released Saturday, he’ll have his hands full.

Watch the new teaser above.

Who among us hasn’t, on occasion, called in sick when you really weren’t? Sick time is often a use-it-or-lose-it benefit, and that fuels the temptation to hit the snooze button and just call in sick.

Using sick days to catch up on sleep, run errands or kick off the weekend early has become so commonplace that more than a third of full-time workers polled by CareerBuilder said they have gone into the office when they were legitimately sick so they could save their sick days for when they’re feeling better. 

But apparently some people lie better than others. CareerBuilder’s annual survey, which covered a 12-month period ending in September, found that 40 percent of workers had claimed to be sick when they actually weren’t, and 38 percent of employers had checked up on workers who called in sick. And how exactly did they do that? Easy-peasy: 43 percent of bosses busted an employee who faked being sick by checking out their social media feeds. 

Of course, some employees offered some pretty outlandish excuses for not showing up at work. Here are some of the more dubious ― or creative? ― excuses that employers in the survey reported hearing:

A bear was in the employee’s yard, and they were afraid to come out.

The employee had to reschedule a manicure because some of her artificial nails fell off. 

The employee left all his clothes at the laundromat and had nothing to wear.

There was a solar eclipse and the employee wasn’t sure it was safe to leave the house.

A dog swallowed the employee’s car keys, so she was waiting for them to come out.

The employee couldn’t squeeze into her uniform and called in “fat.”

The employee broke his arm wrestling a female bodybuilder.

Harris Poll conducted this survey on behalf of CareerBuilder, questioning 2,257 hiring and human resource managers and 3,697 employees.

If art is in the eye of the beholder, then maybe Macklemore has problems with his vision.

The man who gave the world hits like “Thrift Store” and “Same Love,” happens to have in his possession a painting of Justin Bieber naked with maple syrup and a pancake on his penis.

Yes, we know: pictures or it didn’t happen:

Macklemore purchased the bizarre painting last year, and explained why on Thursday’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live” on Bravo.

“I bought it on Etsy as a white elephant Santa gift that at the end of the night just stayed at my house,” Macklemore told host Andy Cohen. “No one took it.”

Macklemore claims to be very happy with his purchase. “I’m very proud of it,” he said. “And it’s become a huge headline. Like, Macklemore owns a naked Justin Bieber dick pancake painting.”

The rapper claims the painting is in his bedroom, where it serves a utilitarian purpose.

“So it goes right above my bed and whenever I’m with my wife intimately, I can always stare at it if I want to control my orgasm,” he said. “Just slow it down.”

Watch the whole segment below:

Macklemore previously told TMZ he considered the painting to be “an investment piece.”

“I think that that painting is going to be worth a lot of money,” he said. “I search eBay and Etsy for fine pieces of art. It cost me about $20. I’m pretty sure that the minute that the Justin Bieber album went number one, I’m pretty sure that painting went to about $30, $33. Do the math, man.”

The pancake penis painter, Dan Lacey, told Vulture last year that there’s a deeper meaning to his work.

“To me, pancakes happen at a spiritual level, sometimes expressing themselves as eroticism.” 

However, he may have tipped his hand at his next work on Twitter Friday. 

A mural of Kevin Spacey will soon vanish from the side of a building in the northwest England city of Manchester.

Anonymous street artist Akse revealed via Facebook on Friday that he will replace his 2015 piece “as a result of the recent allegations” of sexual misconduct against the Oscar-winning actor.

The decision to remove the mural, which shows Spacey as “House of Cards” character Frank Underwood, was made jointly with the wall’s owners, Akse added.

Akse painted the mural on the building, owned by Nurhbai and Co. Accountants, in May 2015.

“We love it!” the company said via Facebook on its completion:

But as sexual misconduct claims mounted against Spacey, owner Hussain Nurbhai was “adamant” it be replaced, the BBC reported.

Akse has not revealed when or how he will paint over the piece, which formed part of his “Psychopaths” series. HuffPost has reached out for comment.

Bryan Cranston’s “Breaking Bad” character of Walter White, and Christian Bale’s character of Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho,” also are featured in Akse’s project in Manchester.

A pregnant dachshund is raising the game when it comes to maternity photoshoots.

Three-year-old Cindi posed for her owner, professional photographer Vicki Miller, among flowerbeds and fields, showing off her heavily pregnant body.

When Vicki shared the photos of the maternity shoot on her Facebook page, the sausage dog became an instant internet sensation, with her photos accruing more than 8,000 likes.

Just look at that smize.

Vicki, who is from North Queensland, Australia, tells HuffPost UK that animals have played a huge part in her life and she’s often included them in client photoshoots, so when Cindi fell pregnant it seemed like the obvious choice to photograph her.

“I thought it would be super cute and pretty funny to give her a maternity shoot of her own,” she explains.

For the shoot, Vicki enlisted the help of her friend Gayette Burt, who runs a local florist, to create a flower crown for her beloved pup. 

“Most of my expecting mothers wear them for sessions which is the main reason I wanted Cindi to have one,” Vicki explains.

It’s not the first time dogs have starred in maternity photoshoots - and (hopefully) it won’t be the last.

In 2016, Brazilian photographer Ana Paula Grillo photographed Lilica the pregnant pooch (the photos are not to be missed, check them out here). And then, of course, there was Fusee who starred in some stunning photos with her owner which promptly went viral on Twitter.

Discussing the response to the snaps of her pup, Vicki says: “My followers do love when I create photographs with unique twists so I knew there would be a little love for it, but I honestly was not expecting the huge response.

“It’s been so nice reading comments from people saying how it gave them a laugh at the end of a bad day. It was only ever done to give us something cute to look back on so the fact that it’s bringing joy to others is lovely.”

Cindi is due any day now and once the puppies are born, Vicki hopes to shoot some more adorable photos starring the photogenic dachshund and her babies.

Needless to say, we can’t wait.

Unless you’re blessed to live in a magically warm climate all year round (looking at you, Californians and Floridians), frostier weather is rapidly approaching. And that can come with some unexpected mental and physical side effects.

Changes in weather come with a lot of changes in your body and mind, according to Dr. Albert Ahn, a clinical instructor of internal medicine at NYU Langone Health. These shifts are important to keep in mind so you stay healthy all season long.

We chatted with Ahn about how the winter affects your body so you know what to look out for when the temperature drops. Below are some changes you may not have realized are happening:

1. You burn more calories.

Research shows that your basal metabolic rate ― AKA how many calories you burn just by existing, without doing any excess activity ― increases slightly in colder temperatures. That’s because it takes more work for your body to stay warm. But don’t count on this to be part of a weight loss plan, Ahn said.

“It’s not significant enough to notice a difference, but you do tend to burn more calories when the body is trying to keep itself warm,” he explained.

2. Your fingers ‘shrink.’

Ever notice how your rings feel a little loose during those wintry days? It’s not in your imagination. Extremities, such as your fingers and toes, tend to swell up in hotter climates, Ahn explained. 

“You tend to see less of that in the winter,” he said. “Cold weather tends to constrict the blood vessels to preserve body heat and maintain core body temperature.”

That might mean you end up getting slightly less blood flow to your extremities, which could make your fingers feel like they’re smaller, he added.

3. You could experience extra pain in your extremities.

Some people experience a condition called Raynaud’s disease, which makes parts of your body feel numb and cold in response to colder climates or stress, Ahn pointed out. This usually occurs in areas like your hands, feet and ears, and it’s caused by the smaller arteries that supply blood to the skin constricting excessively in response to the weather.

“It’s not dangerous, but it can be very uncomfortable or painful,” Ahn said. Lifestyle modifications, like wearing proper winter outerwear and avoiding prolonged periods in the cold, can help ease the symptoms, he noted.

4. Your vision might suffer.

Mind your eyes. Exposure to excessively cold temperatures, cold wind and snow may affect your vision, according to experts. Sun bouncing off snow piles or banks may also pose a risk by potentially causing a cornea injury or burn. Make sure to wear proper eyewear when participating in snow sports and try to wear sunglasses when you can.

5. Your face gets red.

If your nose looks like Rudolph’s after being out in the winter air ― or your cheeks, for that matter ― it’s likely because the blood in those areas is being redirected to more vital areas, like your heart or lungs. When you get warmer, the blood returns back to its normal locations, flushing you in the process.

6. You might be at a greater risk for a heart attack.

This is usually more common for older adults and those at risk for cardiac issues, but it’s something everyone should still keep in mind, Ahn said. 

“This increased risk isn’t just due to exertion because you’re shoveling snow,” he explained. “When the body is trying to preserve heat, it does increase the pressure on the heart. It has to work harder to pump blood to extremities. It can also increase blood pressure marginally.”

Ahn recommends practicing a healthy lifestyle and staying vigilantly aware of heart attack symptoms (you can read a list of them here).

7. You may experience a drop in mood.

The winter blues are real. A decrease in temperature likely means fewer daylight hours. That can lead to a dip in mood due to a lack of Vitamin D, Ahn said. This can range from mild to severe, with the more extreme cases likely being seasonal affective disorder, a depression-related mental health condition most commonly associated with the winter months.

Ahn recommends plenty of exercise and spending as much time as possible exposing yourself to daylight. Vitamin D supplements may also help with milder mood issues, he said. Check with your doctor if you feel like your mood is severely impacted and it’s interfering with your everyday life. You may need more targeted mental health treatment.

The “Stranger Things” stars are here to answer fans’ strangest online queries.

Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin, joined Joe Keery (aka Steve) in responding to the weirdest Google searches about them and the Netflix sci-fi horror series.

The questions in the Wired magazine clip ranged from the sensible (such as whether the show is based on a true story) to the silly.

The more bizarre questions prompted this response:

Check out the full Q&A session in the clip above.

Desperate Syrians trapped in eastern Ghouta have started eating garbage to survive as a government-imposed siege tightens around the dilapidated Damascus suburb like a noose. Many famished children in the region have fainted from hunger in recent weeks, according to a new report from the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

Heart-wrenching images of Sahar Dofdaa, an emaciated baby girl who died there last month, drew international attention to the plight of Syria’s 400,000 besieged residents. Another boy starving under the siege recently committed suicide, the WFP said.

As millions of American families sit down to enjoy Thanksgiving feasts this week, the men, women and children of eastern Ghouta, at the mercy of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, will continue to starve as they resort to “coping strategies,” such as consuming refuse, animal fodder and expired food remnants.

Assad has kept the rebel-held region outside Damascus under complete siege since 2013, shortly after a sarin gas attack by his forces killed an estimated 1,429 people there. Hundreds of civilians ― more than half of them children ― have died from food and medication shortages since the start of the siege, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said in a report last month.

The regime has intensified its blockade in recent months, preventing its own desolate citizens from fleeing and denying access to urgently needed aid supplies. Only six aid convoys have reached eastern Ghouta this year, according to the Syria Deeply news site.

As witnessed in the beleaguered city of Aleppo, Assad’s siege warfare is a strongman strategy to exert dominance and defy those who oppose his rule. The civilian toll is staggering. Thousands died in Aleppo as Syrian and allied forces demolished the city with airstrikes and barrel bombs, turning the once-vibrant metropolis into a ghost town of rubble and bloodied bodies.

Now experts fear that eastern Ghouta ― also under brutal assault by the regime ― is headed toward a similar catastrophic transformation. With nowhere to run, scores of civilians were reportedly killed by a series of aerial attacks over the past week, and hundreds more were injured. More than a dozen children were among the dead.

Escalated fighting that began Nov. 14 “is expected to further deteriorate the dire food security situation,” the WFP warned. The people of eastern Ghouta, once a thriving agricultural zone, “are now forced to depend solely on their alarmingly depleted stocks of food and on their limited own production.” Prices for the scarce supply of food have skyrocketed as the crisis deteriorates.

In many households with multiple mouths to feed, “priority is given to children with adults often skipping entire days without eating,” the report added. Some families have even been forced to adopt “rotation strategies” in which the children who eat one day will not eat the next day.

“I am forced to divide the scarce food I have, rotating between my 13-year-old daughter and my orphan grandchildren of two and three years of age,” one Syrian woman told the WFP. “My daughter cries every time I lock her door because she knows today is not her turn and will sleep with an empty stomach.”

The world is so full of tech that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Some of us struggle to grasp the basic features of the iPhone X, let alone brief ourselves on whichever smart home device is next to hit the market.

You’ve probably heard about the Google Home and Amazon Echo devices ― the latter of which is commonly referred to as “Alexa” ― and you may be wondering what they’re all about. Essentially, they’re smart speakers that respond to your voice for hands-free help around the house. They can do anything from answer random questions to recite the day’s weather to play music and control a home’s smart lights (which are exactly what they sound like). While these speakers obviously aren’t necessary for daily life, tech enthusiasts say they’re fun gadgets to have around and can become fairly indispensable once you start using them. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

There are two main smart speakers: Amazon Echo and Google Home.

The Amazon Echo is the original smart speaker, which Amazon first released in 2015. The small, cylindrical device is designed to sit on your countertop or bookshelf, and the voice that comes out of it is called Alexa. (The voice that comes out of the Google Home speaker is named, much less affectionately, “Google Assistant.”) 

HuffPost consulted four tech experts, who said the Echo shines in its ability to control smart home devices like smart lights, smart thermostats and smart door locks. You can turn on the lights with your voice or unlock the front door by asking Alexa to do so, for example. (Of course, this involves owning smart lights, thermostats or door locks in the first place.) However, the Echo isn’t so great at answering everyday questions like “What movies came out recently?” The Echo integrates with Amazon products like Amazon Fire TV, and of course it lets you order stuff from Amazon directly with your voice. 

Google released its Google Home smart speaker last fall, making it the newer kid on the block. (Apple will release its own smart speaker next year, but that’s another story.) As the Echo integrates with Amazon products, so the Google Home integrates with Google: You can vocally control your Chromecast TV, use Google Search and access your Google Calendar and Gmail, though experts say those last two functions could use some work. It can’t control as many smart home devices as the Echo, nor does it do so as efficiently. It also has fewer “apps” than the Echo, something we’ll get to later, but the experts we spoke with said its setup is significantly simpler. 

Smart speakers aren’t must-haves, but they’re definitely fun. 

“Right now, you definitely don’t need one,” said David Pierce, a senior writer at Wired who has reviewed both the Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Show. “But you should get one! Once you get used to all the small things they can do, like play music or tell you the weather or convert tablespoons to cups while you’re mid-recipe, it’s hard to go back ... They’re playthings. But they’re fun, useful, awesome, maybe slightly privacy-problematic playthings.”

And truly, neither Amazon nor Google’s gadget is “better,” according to our experts, though one might be a better fit for a given user. 

“Both speakers perform different tasks really well and really poorly,” said Alex Hernandez, editor-in-chief of tech site Techaeris. “It will come down to what you want to do with your smart speaker.”

Here’s a breakdown of each speaker’s biggest strengths, per the experts’ opinions.

• Amazon Echo is great at controlling your smart home.

The Echo “can control a wider range of smart home devices” than Google Home, said Alex Cranz, senior reviews editor at Gizmodo.

That is, of course, if you have smart home devices to control.

• Google Home is great at answering your questions.

Our experts agree that Google Home’s main draw is its ability to answer complex questions like “What were last week’s lottery numbers?” 

Google Home is “supremely smart thanks to Google’s dominance in search,” said Nick Pino, a senior editor at TechRadar. “It can tell you things like how much airplane tickets cost, or when movies, games or music originally came out ... Alexa pretty frequently doesn’t know how to answer your questions.”

Plus, they say Google Home is better at understanding your voice.

With Echo, “you have to be very specific in how you word your requests, and they can often come out sounding like word salad. You can be much more natural speaking to the Google Home,” Cranz said.

• Amazon Echo has more “apps.”

While Google Home has a more basic set of functions ― turning on the TV, playing music and the like ― you can expand your Amazon Echo’s abilities by selectively enabling a whole slew of “skills,” like reading your Twitter feed aloud and ordering Domino’s pizza on command.

“[Echo] has some really fun games and apps,” Pierce said. It’s also “awesome for buying the random junk you always forget to buy at the grocery store because you can just yell, ‘Alexa, buy more toilet paper!’ from the bathroom.”

• Google Home has easier setup.

Because of its more streamlined function, the editors we consulted said Google Home has an easier setup process and less complexity overall, which may be a draw for some users. 

With the Echo, “it takes a lot of work to enable all the skills you need to do all the fun stuff,” Pierce said.

Ultimately, our experts did prefer one gadget over another.

The two are similar in price: Amazon Echo normally retails for $99.99, and Google Home is $129. (This year’s best Black Friday sales bring the prices down to $79.99 and $79 respectively, making them essentially equal.) Each of our experts said it was a tough call, but in the end, three of the four say they prefer Google Home, at least with the functionalities each device has right now. 

“Google Home is the better choice for me personally because I want my [artificial intelligence] to give me answers to questions, and I don’t have a huge amount of smart devices I need to control,” Hernandez said.

However, that doesn’t mean it’ll be true for you, too. When deciding between the speakers, Pierce said you should think about whether you favor Amazon products (like Amazon Fire TV and Amazon.com) or Google products (like Chromecast and Gmail) in your daily life. 

“Whichever one you buy, you’re kind of buying into an entire lifestyle,” he said. “So: Are you a Google Person or an Amazon Person? That’s really the choice you’re making.”

Uma Thurman had a cryptic message for her followers Thursday when she posted a Thanksgiving message to her Instagram account. 

“I said I was angry recently, and I have a few reasons, #metoo, in case you couldn’t tell by the look on my face,” she wrote, referencing her response to the sexual assault and harassment allegations leveled at disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein.

“I feel it’s important to take your time, be fair, be exact so... Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!” she added. ”(Except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators - I’m glad it’s going slowly - you don’t deserve a bullet) - stay tuned.”

Multiple women came forward in bombshell reports in the New York Times and the New Yorker magazine accusing Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and harassment spanning decades. Weinstein has been unceremoniously banned from many of the Hollywood institutions he used to lead, including his eponymous production company.

The LAPD and NYPD have opened probes into his prior behavior, and some of Weinstein’s accusers have joined a class-action lawsuit claiming the producer’s company helped cover up his alleged crimes. The fall-out from the accusations also led women to come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against other powerful men, in industries including entertainment, media, politics and sports.

Earlier this month, Thurman’s response to the Weinstein allegations went viral after she told an Access Hollywood reporter that she didn’t have a “tidy soundbite” to share at the time.

“I’ve been waiting to feel less angry, and when I’m ready, I’ll say what I have to say,” Thurman said. 

Based on her latest Instagram post, it looks like Thurman may be ready soon. As she said, stay tuned.

Flight attendant Caroline Bright was kicking off her last shift of the day when she realized one of the pilots on board reminded her of someone. 

“I was trying to figure it out, was it a celebrity?” she told HuffPost. “Who does he remind me of?” He looked like her dad, she realized. 

“When we landed and were waiting for the van to the hotel, I told him I’d figured it out,” she said. ”I told him, ‘You look like just my dad.’ I had a picture of him on my phone, which I showed to the first officer. ‘Doesn’t he look just like my dad?’” she recalled asking him. ”‘I think they look so similar.’”

The pilot’s response? ”‘It’s been a long time since a girl like you called me daddy,’” she said. 

“I felt so grossed out. I turned and looked at the officer and gave him an expression like, ‘What just happened?’ And he just looked at me and shrugged. I remember thinking at the time that I must have said something inappropriate.”

Based on accounts shared with HuffPost from both current and former flight attendants, Bright’s story is among many instances of sexual harassment and assault in the skies. As more and more stories of sexual assault across industries come to the forefront, it’s impossible to ignore the dynamics of the airline industry, which are inherently gendered with origins in the sexualization of women.

From unwanted advances to groping and forced physical contact, assault and harassment are realities seemingly accepted as commonplace by the flight attendants we spoke with, all of whom attested to various levels of unwanted physical contact during their time on the job. 

It’s what drives some people, like former flight attendant Lanelle Henderson, out. 

Henderson worked for now-defunct Kiwi Airlines in the ’90s and again for a little under a year for now-defunct Airtran in 2004. She told HuffPost that it was her experience in the 2000s that turned her off from remaining in the industry.

Once, a male passenger who’d been drinking began making advances toward her throughout a flight to Dallas–Fort Worth, she told HuffPost. 

“He would first grab my hand and compliment me, which in the beginning was flattering,” she said. “But then he grabbed and rubbed my leg. It was mostly embarrassing because the man behind him was looking at me as if to say, ‘What are you going to do?’ And I was just startled and a newbie and trying to be polite.”  

Henderson said that the customer blocked her in the galley from moving between cabins. He eventually grabbed her butt. “The man behind him said, ‘Sir, enough already. This girl is not here for your pleasure.’” she said.

Flight attendants told HuffPost that the “customer is always right” attitude mandated by much of the service industry often prevents many flight attendants from confronting in-flight harassment themselves, Henderson said. 

Dawn Arthur also became disillusioned during eight years working as a flight attendant in both the commercial and private sector. 

“I was really excited [before I became a flight attendant],” she said. “I thought it was so cool. But then you find out that there is no support in the industry. The pilots aren’t trained to handle assault and they don’t want to hear it. It’s not their job.”

Arthur, who told HuffPost she’s been “pushed into a corner and felt up” by passengers, said flight attendants may feel discouraged from taking action in order to avoid an in-flight delay or disturbance.

“If someone grabs you or threatens you, nothing is going to happen. They’re on a tight timetable. They’re not going to stop the plane. And then everyone’s going to be mad at you; you’re not a team player, you’re difficult.”

If there is a trend of keeping assault to oneself in the airline industry, former flight attendant Mandalena Lewis has broken it in a big way. She has not only spoken about her own alleged assault but is in the midst of a lawsuit against her former employer, Canadian airline WestJet, in part, she said, for firing her as a result.

According to Lewis, the company neglected to adequately handle not only her experience with sexual assault in 2010, but with a group of women she is now representing in her case. 

Lewis recounted her assault to HuffPost, which happened during a layover in Maui in 2010. She said the incident ultimately led her to firing and discovery of other women who made claims against the same pilot who she said attacked her.

“We were on a layover in Maui, and the whole crew went out for dinner and drinks, totally standard,” she said. “The captain invited people up to his room. It was my second year of being a flight attendant and I was down to go up to the room and have a drink. I ended up going by myself. The first officer’s room was right next door and their door was open a bit.”

Lewis said the pilot had been acting “very father-like” up until that point, when the two of them went on the balcony. “There was nothing inappropriate and I didn’t send him any signals,” she said. “On the balcony, he started asking me really inappropriate questions: do I touch myself privately, do I masturbate, things like that.” 

When she turned to leave, that’s when she said the pilot started to attack her. “It started almost like horseplay, gradually becoming more aggressive,” she said. Lewis said he attacked her three times. The first and second involved grabbing her from behind, squeezing her arms and commenting on how strong she was.

“The third time, he grabbed me and put me on the bed and got between my legs,” she said. “He touched my face and told me I wanted it and how strong I was.” 

Lewis said she got her heels underneath him and kicked him off of her. “He fell backward into the TV stand. I was shaking, tears were coming down my face.” Lewis said that the airline took her off of flights with the pilot but did not take action to fire him. 

It was in 2015 when she says she spoke up about the lack of training surrounding sexual assault during a crew resource management class. She said her concerns were brushed off by the person leading the training, but there were a few people who came over afterward and thanked her for speaking out.

“A few months later, I was on a layover in Toronto and I got a Facebook message from a woman who told me she was in the room during the training,” she said. “She asked if she could call me to tell me her story.”  

“Sure enough, she told me that she was raped in 2008 by the same pilot. We didn’t know each others’ stories and we didn’t know each other,” she said.

Lewis told HuffPost both hired lawyers pretty quickly after that, but the other woman later settled with the company. “We dropped the class-action suit and I went forward as an individual case for wrongful dismissal and negligence” in early 2016.

The airline has disputed the claims — as recently as Nov. 9, saying employees should be bringing their cases “to human rights tribunals and workers’ compensation boards instead” of filing a lawsuit, according to Global News. Robert Palmer, manager of public relations for WestJet, declined to comment on “ongoing legal proceedings,” but said the company is “committed to fostering a harassment-free workplace where all employees are treated with respect and dignity.”

While the demographics for flight attendants vary slightly by airline and have shifted over the years, the industry is still majority female ― about 80 percent. But men in the field say they’ve also dealt with unwanted advances. 

A male JetBlue flight attendant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told HuffPost he has been grabbed inappropriately multiple times by both men and women. Passengers commonly make comments referring to the mile-high club and “getting him in the back of the plane.” 

In the event that a situation escalates, flight crew can notify the pilot, who will decide whether it is necessary to take action, either by speaking to the passenger themselves or, in extreme cases, removing the person from the flight. “Ten out of 10 times they have our side, but diverting and removing a person from the flight is obviously our last option,” he said. 

For the people we spoke to, shrugging inappropriate behavior off had become commonplace. Many said even if they wanted to do something about it, the training isn’t there. 

Sara Nelson is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA as well as a 21-year flight attendant with United Airlines. She told HuffPost that in her experience ― along with the experience of some of the 50,000 flight attendants across the 20 airlines the association represents ― there is no exact protocol on how to handle it. 

“There is very little training. It’s nonexistent, actually,” she said. “There is training on how to handle assault and aggressive behavior on a plane, but there is no recognition of sexual assault as a unique crime.”

She added that for a flight attendant tasked with getting a job done, it’s easier to just keep things moving than to confront a passenger or bring it to the pilot’s attention. 

“One, it’s a confined space, where flight attendants are charged with de-escalating conflict every single day,” she said. “I had a conversation with a group of flight attendants ranging from six months seniority to 10 years on Friday and the conversation basically was, ‘We have to de-escalate everything and sometimes I just choose not to say anything.’ ‘If someone grabs my butt or pulls me onto their lap, I tell them to knock it off and keep going.’”

If allegations in other industries have pushed the conversation forward to put an end to assault, it has also emboldened people who Nelson say feel like they’re “out of the public eye” in the air.

“A flight attendant relayed a situation this week where a guy in the last few rows spoke up and said, ‘When can we get some drinks around here, honey?’” she said. While the flight attendant was still in earshot, Nelson said he loudly added, “‘You can probably get sued for calling someone honey nowadays,’” laughing with the men sitting around him. 

Nelson told HuffPost she thinks things have perhaps gotten worse since she started in 1996, due to planes these days being more crowded than ever and equipped with less staff. “In a casual request from our membership about what’s happening today on the plane, we were barraged with examples,” she said. 

Flight attendants who worked in the ’60s and ’70s might argue the notion that it is worse, now, though. A Facebook group titled Stewardesses of the 1960s and 1970s, which boasts more than 9,000 members, has a recently posted thread asking members about sexual assault that currently has more than 400 comments.

In spite of the frequency of sexual assault in the air, Nelson told HuffPost that she thinks the CEOs of airlines (most of whom are men) would be “shocked” to find out what’s going on on their planes.

“Men don’t think about this stuff,” she said. “It’s not their experience. They have no idea what it’s like. And even if they are someone who doesn’t participate, I bet if these men are really going to be honest, even the ones who would never do it themselves, have absolutely been sitting there and have done nothing while it’s happening.”

Still, Nelson has hope. “Any time an issue is raised, there is opportunity for change, but I think we are just at the very beginning of the conversation here,” she said, adding, “It doesn’t have to be this way. The more we talk about it and say it’s not OK, the better it will get.”  

“Call Me by Your Name” is, at first, a movie about looking. From his bedroom window, the scholarly 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) watches as Oliver (Armie Hammer), a poised 24-year-old graduate student, arrives in the fertile Italian countryside ― another visitor, there for another lethargic summer. Upon meeting, Elio leads Oliver up a winding staircase and into the room where he will sleep for the next six weeks. Their interactions are as lukewarm as the wide shots that frame them. Exhausted after traveling from America, Oliver doesn’t want dinner, and he doesn’t seem anxious to make a new friend, either. He’s snoring almost as quickly as Elio points to his bed.

There’s a trigger in the teenager’s eyes, though ― a confusion, perhaps a spark of interest. Even when the scene lingers on Elio’s face, it’s hard to discern his exact thoughts, which is fitting; it’s hard for Elio to discern Elio’s exact thoughts, too.

And then the day dawns, the light of morning bringing clarity, maybe. Sunshine beams across the lush lawn as Oliver joins Elio and his parents for breakfast, untutored in the ways of soft-boiled eggs and village geography. Elio peers across the table. The camera mimics his eyes, landing on a small, silver Star of David dangling from Oliver’s neck, shown in sudden close-up and framed by the V of his unbuttoned collar. A pang of desire ripples across the screen, announcing Elio’s quiet enchantment.

This is a familiar sensation for queer people all too acquainted with the psychological warfare waged by the closet, which often ensures that adolescent glances remain just that. Hollywood’s fraught relationship with gay tenderness is slowly evolving, as evidenced in “Call Me by Your Name,” the adaptation of André Aciman’s lauded 2007 novel. Opening in limited release on Friday and primed for the ongoing Oscar derby, Luca Guadagnino’s sensual film uses the torturous politics of the closet as a backdrop, but more than most of the queer cinema that has preceded it, his also clings delicately to the celebration of first love. It doubles down on two recent movies that won similar critical admiration: 2015′s “Carol” and 2016′s “Moonlight.” 

In some regards, it’s unfair to compare these three films when so many of their specifics are different. “Carol” revolves around two white women in cloistered 1950s New York, “Moonlight” chronicles a black boy hardening into adulthood in contemporary inner-city Miami, and “Call Me by Your Name” concerns erudite globetrotters in 1983, when Reagan conservatism was sweeping America. But together they are paragons exemplifying the framework that now bolsters gay romance on the big screen. None of the central characters die; no one is abjectly punished for their desires. Each movie ends with a twinkle of bittersweet hope ― something that can’t be said for most queer stories throughout history, even excellent ones like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Philadelphia,” “A Single Man,” “Heavenly Creatures” and “My Own Private Idaho.”

“Call Me by Your Name,” “Moonlight” and “Carol” boast another similarity: They do not spoon-feed emotions to their audience. There is no grand swoon or quirky meet-cute that unites Elio and Oliver, nor Chiron (played as an adult by Trevante Rhodes) and Kevin (André Holland) in “Moonlight,” nor Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara) in “Carol.” Each courtship builds slowly, through glances. What isn’t said is often more important than what is. Most flirtations are clandestine anyway: a kiss stolen near a private lake, a beachside encounter late at night, a road trip removed from any familiar faces. For these characters, romance operates in tandem with, and as a result of, self-discovery. Because the movies depart from predictable Hollywood norms, they’ve been erroneously labeled “cold.” 

“Dominant culture needs emotional translation for certain kinds of stories that aren’t their own, and to feel stroked and emotionally protected and given the right kind of recipe of emotional reactions,” Todd Haynes, the director of “Carol,” told HuffPost last month. “If it’s not given to them, it’s cult. It’s like, ‘I will feel for these characters if I have a customary, expected reaction, but if I’m not getting it, then it’s a problem.’ We all have to feed dominant society to make it feel better.”

Elio and Oliver’s affair peaks only when the end of the summer nears. Oliver, the pupil of Elio’s academic father (Michael Stuhlbarg), who facilitates an annual internship at the family’s villa in northern Italy, has been careful not to overextend his welcome. “If you only knew how little I know about the things that matter,” Elio tells Oliver, finally hinting that the thing he knows least is how to express his attraction. That crucial sentence recalls Carol’s sentiment toward Therese: “What a strange girl you are, flung out of space.” And it invokes a teenage Chiron, speaking to Kevin in the gleam of twilight: “I wanna do a lot of things that don’t make sense.”

These lyrical words form the essence of these stories, just as they outline the essence of every gay person’s subdued cravings. Nothing makes sense, especially when it’s buried in cloaked glimpses at breakfast tables. 

“I knew the emotional journey they were going through,” Guadagnino, known for epicurean dramas like “I Am Love” and “A Bigger Splash,” told Deadline. “Butterflies in the stomach is the most beautiful feeling you can feel, no?”

The characters in “Call Me by Your Name,” “Moonlight” and “Carol” can’t appear outside their crush’s window, like Shakespeare’s Romeo or like John Cusack in “Say Anything.” They won’t crash a wedding to prove their devotion, à la Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate.” Nor will there be impassioned speeches about true love, as in “Notting Hill” or “Casablanca” or “When Harry Met Sally” or “Pride and Prejudice.” No corny cue cards, no “you complete me.” Those gestures are too overt, too public.

Instead, devotion crescendoes in tiny increments. A performatively defensive Elio tells his parents it’s impolite that Oliver’s preferred adieu is an offhand “later!” At a nightclub, his eyes stay glued on Oliver dancing with a woman. He scribbles notes that say things like “can’t stand the silence.” He pops up from a lake wearing Oliver’s Star of David around his neck. On average, these signifiers would be grander in a tale of heterosexual love, where best friends can agonize over will-they, won’t-they predicaments, and sages can help to galvanize a budding pursuit. 

Because the wait was tortuous, there are few swoons as powerful as that of Elio and Oliver’s first kiss, planted after Elio decides he can’t settle for underhanded flirtations any longer. And there’s no finale like the finale of “Carol,” in which Carol smiles softly as Therese glides toward her, confirming that, yes, they’ll give the relationship a shot after all, despite so many cultural roadblocks. Borrowing the subtle language of queer yearning, these personifications of self-acceptance spark some of the most moving moments in modern cinema.

“When those two characters hug for the first time in the [third chapter of ‘Moonlight,’] you can see Trevante’s hand linger on the back of André Holland’s shirt,” director Barry Jenkins told HuffPost last year. “You can get right in there to see how mesmerizing and terrifying it is for Chiron to finally look this guy in the eye after 10 years. [...] It was really important to me to just show the tenderness. [...] There was something about the nature of this environment and the corporeal quality of two men touching each other.”

Even as more same-sex pairings touch each other onscreen, gay visibility is still a battlefield. It’s telling that only one queer movie per year breaks through the indie noise. In 2017 alone, the collective attention paid to “Beach Rats,” “Battle of the Sexes,” “BPM (Beats Per Minute),” “God’s Own Country,” “Princess Cyd” and “Thelma” trails that of “Call Me by Your Name,” which was anointed the chosen one after its rosy Sundance premiere in January. Even so, these films ― including the AIDS-themed “BPM” ― sculpt characters who refuse to be victims. 

To wit, “Call Me by Your Name” is about the beauty of exploration. “We wasted so many days,” Elio tells Oliver after their mutual endearment has fully blossomed. The closet robbed them of their already limited time together. As Sufjan Stevens sings in “Mystery of Love,” a ballad featured in the movie, “How much sorrow can I take? / Blackbird on my shoulder / And what difference does it make / When this love is over?” The summer must end, and heartbreak will follow. But that intoxicating enchantment is forever. In many ways, the story is just beginning. Everything’s an aching close-up.

“Call Me by Your Name” opens in limited release Nov. 24. It expands to additional theaters throughout December and January.