In late March, Chloe Bailey, better known as Chlöe, delivered her debut solo album, In Pieces, which made Uproxx’s “Best R&B Albums Of 2023” list. In late September, Tyga and YG dropped their joint project, Hit Me When U Leave The Klub. Those two releases do not seem correlated in any way, and they would never be mentioned in the same vicinity if Chlöe, Uproxx’s August 2022 cover star, and Tyga weren’t just spotted leaving the same club in West Hollywood, California last night, December 26.
Are Chloe Bailey And Tyga Dating?
According to TMZ, “The two music stars were spotted leaving the Bird Streets Club in WeHo Tuesday night for a sweet meetup … Tyg’s carrying 2 bags of candy as he headed to his car. Chloe was all smiles — likely anticipating the treats ahead — as she slid into the front passenger seat of T-Raww’s whip before they jetted off into the moonlight.”
It goes without saying: Chlöe and Tyga (allegedly, seemingly, reportedly) casually hanging out once does not mean they are dating. But, for the sake of answering the proposed question, this feels like a solid “well, maybe, I guess.”
Meanwhile, around the release of In Pieces, rumors swirled around a possible romance between Chlöe and Quavo, her co-star in the Peacock musical comedy Praise This. She was asked about it by Latto and Cosmopolitan, and while she was playfully ambiguous about it with Latto, she put all speculation to bed with Cosmopolitan, as excerpted below.
“Sadly, I have not been seeing anybody for almost a year now. Your girl has just been working on herself, and I wish I was lying. I tell myself, God, I know what you’re doing. You’re sifting out the BS, so I can find good lovin’. When you don’t know your worth and when you haven’t mastered the art of loving yourself, you question why others would love you. I think that’s why I’m single right now, so I can grasp that concept a little more, because I can’t expect someone to love me wholeheartedly when I’m not there yet within myself.”
Getting into tequila might seem like a difficult task. The key for a tequila beginner is to be informed and understand exactly what you’re buying, as there are different classifications that a newbie needs to understand. It’s important to know what type of tequila you’re looking to start with.
Do you want a blanco for cocktails? A dual-purpose reposado for mixing and potentially sipping. Or possibly an añejo or extra Añejo for sipping neat or on the rocks. Richie Barrow, general manager and food & beverage director at Tribe Hotels Group in Nairobi, Kenya believes that going cheap isn’t a good idea.
“With any spirit, I would recommend that everyone starts with high quality and with a spirit that gives them a proper introduction to that particular category.”
Another key is to not get overwhelmed. Sure, there are different terms to distinguish the various ages, but there aren’t that many. Once you get the hang of them, it’s pretty easy to know exactly what you’ll find when you crack open a bottle. But as a beginner, you still likely want a little help. That’s why we asked a few well-known bartenders to tell us their picks for the best tequilas for those new to the spirit. Keep scrolling to see them all.
Siete Leguas Añejo
Siete Leguas
Alex Barbatsis, bar director at The Whistler in Chicago
Someone new to tequila would probably be comfortable starting with an añejo tequila since it’s been aged in barrels and has a bit of a softer edge with some sweeter tones. A great place to start is Siete Leguas Añejo which is aged 18 months in used American oak barrels.
Tasting Notes:
This tequila has a great burst of agave flavor that’s supported by the sweet caramel tones from the oak.
Don Julio 70
Don Julio
Alli Torres, operating partner and head bartender at Freehold in Miami
One of my personal favorites is Don Julio 70. This is especially true for a newcomer to tequila. Most novice drinkers prefer a soft, sweeter flavor profile and Don Julio nails this without additives. It’s also an approachable price tag for more luxury drinkers so it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser for the whole table.
Tasting Notes:
This cristalino tequila has notable flavors like cooked agave, vanilla, oak, and gentle spices. It’s a great introduction to the spirit. The primary flavors are what I equate to a gentle bedtime tea – vanilla, honey, and light oaky notes. Very soft and sippable.
Mayenda Tequila Blanco is rich, complex, and elegant sipping tequila. Crafted at Casa San Nicolas, using a pioneering process that adds two extra steps of craft and care to extract more flavors from the agave. They produce each small batch with the aim of capturing the aromatic, caramelized agave notes that are typically lost in the production process. The result is a unique, agave-forward sipping experience with new and unexplored flavors from the heart of the agave.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is Wildflower honey, cinnamon, and more subtle top notes of orange blossom and fresh grass. The palate has undertones of baking spices, fresh herbs, and pepper that weave their way through caramelized agave notes. Finishes with a lingering echo of citrus, honey, and baking spices.
A beautiful tequila for a person who is new to the category is Codigo Rosa. Codigo 1530 Rosa is a Blanco Tequila that undergoes a brief one-month aging process in Cabernet French white oak barrels from California’s Napa Valley.
Tasting Notes:
This results in a delicate pink color and imparts subtle red wine-like flavors to the tequila. It offers aromas of agave, fruit, and pepper with a delicate floral taste.
Blanco tequila is great for shots or cocktails but when trying to appreciate the flavor of tequila, Reposado is the way to go. Don Julio Reposado would be my choice. It’s aged for eight months in an American white-oak barrel.
Tasting Notes:
This gives it a golden color tasting of vanilla, butterscotch, and cooked agave. It has a nice complexity to it highlighting the classic flavors of a well-made tequila with just enough age that it’s approachable.
Lalo blanco is made by the original family that started Don Julio, who really maintains the integrity of the agave. You get to truly appreciate and taste the agave.
Tasting Notes:
It is wonderfully smooth, and tropical, with a hit of white pepper. It’s a great choice for drinkers new to the agave-based spirit.
Patron Reposado
Patron
Richie Barrow, general manager and food & beverage director at Tribe Hotels Group in Nairobi, Kenya
Patron Reposado – The reason I would push people who are first trying tequila here for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, availability. Patron is on the back bar of a vast majority of bars. Nothing is worse for someone new to a spirit asking for that spirit and being told it’s not available. The next is that Patron as a brand works with 100% Blue Weber agave tequila. This means that the expression in their bottles is a 100% representation of tequila in its truest form without any additive or rounding off ingredients. The reason I have opted for the Reposado is that it’s a nice intro or halfway point between the two styles of tequila: blanco (or unaged tequila) and añejo (or aged).
Tasting Notes:
Reposado fits smack in the middle and has been in oak for about 4 months. On the nose, expect nutmeg and allspice, roasted agave, pepper and honey. The palate is vibrant with pineapple, apple, mild oak, and black pepper notes.
El Tesoro Reposado
El Tesoro
Bradley Stephens, USBG bartender at Cereus PDX in Portland, Oregon
A great starter tequila in my books is El Tesoro Reposado. With all the craziness surrounding the premium tequila world, it’s hard to keep up with what is the “good stuff.” El Tesoro is one of the real deal bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Its wild fermentation and copper pot-made juice is loaded with character with notes of black pepper and vanilla that go for days.
Arette Reposado
Arette
José Medina Camacho, co-owner and mixologist of Adiõs in Birmingham, Alabama
I like to start people with a reposado or añejo. Arette Reposado to me is smooth and approachable. It gets its flavor from being rested in American oak barrels for six full months. It’s just enough to give it a well-rounded, sippable flavor.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of roasted agave, vanilla, and oak makes way for a palate of buttery caramel, vanilla beans, sweet agave, and gentle spices.
Casa Del Sol Añejo
Casa Del Sol
Phil Castello, owner and bartender at The Side Lot in Chicago
Casa Del Sol Añejo, is very smooth on the palate with excellent dried fruit flavors. This complex, sweet-sipping tequila was matured for a full fourteen months in American oak barrels.
Tasting Notes:
Dried fruits, oak, vanilla, roasted agave, cacao, butterscotch, and light, wintry spices, this tequila has everything you could ask for in a gateway sipper.
About 10% of the world is left-handed, but it’s been less than a lifetime since being a lefty lots its stigma. For generations, people saw left-handedness as a problem at best and a sign of the devil at worst. The world has always catered to right-handedness, and few places is that clearer than in the design of scissors.
The way scissors are made creates ease for right-handers and frustration for left-handers—a reality many righties go through life blissfully unaware of. But one woman’s boyfriend’s reaction to getting a pair of left-handed scissors has people delighting in his joy, prompting lefties to share other life-changing left-handed items.
Fellow lefties in the comments could totally relate.
“When my daughter was 5 I asked her kindergarten teacher if I could send in a pair of left-handed scissors for her to use in the classroom. The teacher laughed at me. I sent them anyway and it made a huge difference for my daughter!” shared one parent.
“Left-handed scissors are the BEST! 🔥 Did you know that most accidents are left-handed people getting hurt with tools and implements that were made for right handed people? There should be left handed everything,” added another commenter.
“As a left-handed person, I know exactly what he’s talking about,” wrote another.
Some people were confused about why someone would need left-handed scissors in the first place, especially since many modern scissors say they are “universal” and “suitable” for both right and left-handed people. However, as this Micador scissors brochure explains, universal scissors are only made to be comfortable for lefties in the shape of the handle grips. But the mechanism of which blade goes on top is still the same, so the cutting experience for lefties isn’t the same. In truly left-handed scissors, the blades are reversed, which makes all the difference.
Other left-handed people shared their woes in a right-handed world as well as their favorite left-handed items that dramatically changed their lives for the better.
“If you’re not a lefty, you have NO idea what a pain in the ass the world can be. College was real fun for us (rarely a left-handed desk),” wrote one person.
“I had this with getting an electric can opener from my husband, life changing. Regular turny ones just aren’t for my left-handed brain,” shared another.
“I’ve been to the lefty store last year for the first time year and I literally started to cry. So happy that other kids have access to things made specifically for them! My left hand was beaten in my daycare as a kid when I wanted to eat—they wanted I do it with the right hand. I’m still traumatized… thankfully, at least with writing when my mom got that they were complaining she intervened but because of that I do everything but writing with the right hand. Also broke my left hand as a kid and had to write in school with the right hand- the worst two weeks in my life,” shared another.
“Add left handed notebooks and a left-handed can opener to complete the set,” added another.
“Left-handed measuring cups so I don’t have to turn it to measure, then turn it around again to grab the handle and pour. The newer cups with the markings on the inside at a slant are awesome for lefties though,” shared another.
Here’s to the left-handers who have spent their whole lives in a silent scissor battle. (And if you want to gain favor with a lefty in your life, get them a pair of genuine left-handed scissors. You can find them here.)
There’s something about seeing something out of the ordinary, be it a strange animal, an accident or even an argument between strangers. Humans are naturally curious beings and seeing a random argument between your neighbor and her teenage son will have some people outside taking their goldfish for a walk just to gawk.
So it’s not surprising that thousands of viewers tuned in when Ayanna Williams, the Guinness World Record holder for the world’s longest nails went to have them all cut off. Williams had her record breaking nails for 29 years but decided it was finally time to bid them adieu and the entire thing was filmed. It’s a monumental moment for the record holder after having lived with the 24 foot nails for decades.
Most of us would simply need to grab a pair of fingernail clippers and get clipping, but for Williams the process was a bit more complicated.
The record holder couldn’t just head to her nearest nail salon for a fresh manicure. She had to have her nails trimmed by Dr. Allison Readinger at Trinity Vista Dermatology, where the dermatologist used a special hand held circular saw. Williams disclosed the two foot nails were causing her joint pain and one of her thumbs was extremely tender so she was relieved to lose the weight of the nails. The nails are now on display at Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum in Orlando, Florida.
Viewers couldn’t look away from this re-shared video of Williams said goodbye to her long nails. Some comments were supportive while others…not so much.
“I’m so happy she was able to finally make this decision! I love it,” one person writes.
“Wooww! It’s a incredible it’s been a 29 yrs,” another says.
“Oh gosh so satisfying. Can’t even have mine passed my finger tips. Ouf,” someone exclaims.
According to Guinness World Records, Williams went through over two bottles of nail polish and gave up 20 hours of her time with ever nail polish change. If nothing else, cutting her nails will be a money saver and whether you support her nail growth or not, there’s something satisfying about watching them be cut off.
Even when he was president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, like those before him, finds time to kick back and watch some movies. He has pretty good taste, too. He’ll enjoy some blockbusters, like last year’s Top Gun: Maverick. But he’s mostly into the brainier fare, the kind of cinema that edifies as well as entertains. He even drops his own list of favorite movies every year. So what did the 44th president dig in 2023? Mostly what you’d expect, plus some movies that he helped usher into existence.
Earlier this year, writers and actors went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and protections. It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better.
Here are some films that reflect their hard work over the last year — including some like… pic.twitter.com/TMH9LeQgsT
On Wednesday, Obama tweeted/Xed out his list of 13 cinematic faves. It began with a note about the two-pronged strikes that crippled the industry for about six months.
“Earlier this year, writers and actors went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and protections,” Obama wrote. “It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better.”
Before he got to his Top 10, Obama singled out three films that were produced through Higher Ground, the production company he runs with his wife. Those three were Rustin, the biopic about gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (played by the great Colman Domingo), the Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind, and the Jon Batiste doc American Symphony.
Obama then moved on to his favorite 2023 films that didn’t have his mitts in it. What new fare did Barry like? He liked The Holdovers, Alexander Payne’s grouchy Christmas movie, which reunited him with Sideways’ Paul Giamatti. He liked BlackBerry and Air, comedic-ish docudramas about the creation of the proto-smartphone and the Air Jordan, respectively. Like many he loved Oppenheimer. Ditto the immigrant drama Past Lives and the satire American Fiction and the Palme d’or-winning courtroom saga/mystery Anatomy of a Fall.
Some slightly more obscure titles got an Obama boost, too. Monster, the latest from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, about a mother who accuses a teacher of emotionally harming her son, was on there. Obama also singled out Polite Society, an action-comedy about a British-Pakistani teenager trying to pull off a wedding heist (!!). Lastly Obama gave love to A Thousand and One, a Sundance hit about a mother (Teyana Taylor) who decides to kidnap her son from foster care to raise him herself.
What are some biggies that didn’t make Obama’s cut? Perhaps the most glaring is Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which sounds right up his alley. He’d probably like Todd Haynes’ May December and Aki Kaurismaki’s romance Fallen Leaves and the latest from Hayao Miyazaki, the bananas The Boy and the Heron. Perhaps he never got around to Godzilla Minus One, which has proven a surprise hit in North America, and deservedly so because it totally rules. And of course, who’d miss the absence of Oppenheimer‘s release date buddy.
Still, a solid list, which you can read in full below:
The Holdovers BlackBerry Oppenheimer American Fiction Anatomy of a Fall Monster Past Lives Air Polite Society A Thousand and One
Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. And this week, “best sneakers” really just means “best sneaker” because we’re at the end of the year and the sneaker drops have ceased until 2024, with one exception.
And it’s a good one!
This week brings our final gift from Nike in 2023 — the Nike Kobe 4 Protro Gift of Mamba. It’s a great cap to a great year of sneakers. Here is to 2024 where we’ll continue to provide you with week-to-week updates of the best sneakers to drop. Let’s dive into this week’s big release.
Nike Kobe 4 Protro Gift of Mamba
Price: $190
Two Kobe drops in two weeks? If this is a preview of what Nike has planned for 2024, consider us intrigued. The Gift of Mamba is all about stealthy vibes and we’re loving it. Over a Kobe 4, the GoM sports an all-black upper of snakeskin-embossed leather with a mesh tongue atop a Zoom Air-equipped midsole which promises added bounce.
Will a pair of these make you play ball like Kobe? Come on fam, not even close, but you’ll look good trying and that’s important.
The Nike Kobe 4 Protro Gift Of Mamba is out now. There is no way you’re going to cop the SNKRS drop of this (people are already posting their L’s) but you can pick up this pair at aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.
Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.
The menu at Cheesecake Factory is the stuff of legends. At 250+ dishes, there isn’t a single restaurant across the American landscape that even comes close to the amount of variety that can be had at there. It’s the only restaurant that attempts to cater to everyone and for the most part, jokes aside, it does a damn good job at fulfilling that mission. A couple of years back we ranked the 25 best dishes and still only managed to scratch the surface of what’s available (we’ve also ranked all 35 cheesecakes).
The biggest surprise about the Cheesecake Factory menu — considering the scope and scale involved — is that all of the dishes are scratch-made on location. All except for one. The cheesecakes themselves.
Yes, ironically given its name, the Cheesecake Factory’s namesake desserts are actually made in two bakery production facilities (one in Calabasas California, the other in Rocky Mount, North Carolina) and then shipped to a Cheesecake Factory restaurant frozen. Those are the real factories. The restaurant at your local mall could more accurately be called “Cheesecake Outlet.”
According to Cheesecake Factory, making the desserts off-site enables the brand to have full “control over the creativity and quality” of its 70 total varieties of cheesecakes and other baked desserts. It’s why the desserts are so consistent at every location you visit. So no, that slice of cheesecake isn’t exactly “fresh made” but at least Cheesecake Factory bakes its desserts itself, rather than bringing them in from a third party.
Is Joe Biden okay? If the 2024 election was held today, he might not be. In some polls the current president is lagging behind a former president, namely probable dictator Donald J. Trump. His approval numbers haven’t been great, despite a strong economy. Maybe it’s time to worry. On the other hand, the 2024 election isn’t being held today. Heck, it’s still 2023, at least for a few more days. Besides, polls aren’t always reliable. Remember the failed “red wave” of last year’s election? Perhaps, for now, we can chill. That’s what one prominent Democrat is advising, however bluntly.
Politicorecently spoke with John Fetterman, the famously trolly Pennsylvania senator. Despite all the warning signs, he’s remained confident that Biden can again conquer his state, as he did in 2020. When asked about Trump trouncing Biden in the polls, Fetterman declared that “that doesn’t really matter.” Why not? Because there’s a “whole lifetime in politics between now and next November.”
Fetterman even singled out one of the loudest naysayers about Biden’s 2024 chances.
“I’ll use this [as] another opportunity to tell James Carville to shut the fuck up,” he said, referring to the longtime Democratic advisor and the lead strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign. “Like I said, my man hasn’t been relevant since grunge was a thing. And I don’t know why he believes it’s helpful to say these kinds of things about an incredibly difficult circumstance with an incredibly strong and decent and excellent president. I’ll never understand that.”
It’s quite the diss, and Carville wasn’t having it. When reached for comment by Politico, the “Ragin’ Cajun” consultant said other Democratic senators “apparently haven’t gotten the memo yet” that he’s lost his relevancy, citing that Fetterman’s fellow Pennsylvanian Senator Bob Casey Jr. “asked me to host a fundraiser with him last week.” Ditto Senator Sherrod Brown.
Carville did have something nice to say about Fetterman: About his health issues, Carville said, “I’m glad he’s feeling better.”
So, which is the better stance to take? Do progressives go Chicken Little panic à la James Carville? Or head-in-the-sand acting as though everything’s a-ok, like John Fetterman? Perhaps there’s some in-between space, where you worry and plan ahead without tearing one’s hair out.
Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren’t magic and there’s actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do.
Melissa Pateras is known on Tiktok for her laundry knowledge. Seriously, her ability to fold laundry is hypnotizing. This time, she created a video explaining what actually takes place at the dry cleaner and the internet is aghast.
Before Pateras explained what happens in the mysterious world behind the counter of a dry cleaner, she asked a few of her friends what they thought dry cleaning was. Their answers were…interesting to say the least.
One friend surmised, “You put it in a box, right…and then you let some wind, really fast wind, blow around on your clothes and it wipes off all the dirt.” The friend, whose username is @unlearn16, continued with her working hypothesis, saying that the clothes are then blasted with infrared heat to sterilize the garments. While that is certainly an interesting theory, that’s not what happens.
Another friend guessed, “Dry cleaning is when they take all of your dirty clothes into this big dryer with a clean sheet that sticks all of the dirt to it from your dirty clothes.” This friend was also incorrect, and Pateras finally explained why after her friends dug deep into their brains for their best guesses.
Turns out dry cleaning was invented by accident when Jean-Baptiste Jolly spilled a kerosene lamp on his tablecloth, which dried cleaner than it was previously, according to Pateras.
The laundry guru explained that while it was dangerous, the practice of cleaning things with kerosene continued until a less flammable method was discovered. But even the safer method is still fairly harsh, which is why dry cleaners take buttons off of clothing before running them through, she says.
This prompted one commenter to ask, “They really take the buttons off of every shirt?” to which Pateras replied that it only occurs if the buttons won’t withstand the chemicals.
If you’ve ever been curious about what happens at the dry cleaner, watch the video below. She takes you through each step.
When you’re a rideshare driver, passengers leave a lot of things in your back seat. According to Uber, the most common items left in vehicles in 2023 were clothing, phones, backpacks and purses, wallets, headphones, jewelry, keys, books, laptops and watches.
The strangest things left in Ubers in 2023 were a Danny DeVito Christmas ornament, a toy poodle and a fog machine. The rideshare company also notes that the most forgetful cities in the United States are Jacksonville, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; Palm Springs, California; Houston, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah.
As reported by WVTM13, Esbon Kamau, an Uber driver in Alabama and father of 5, may have seen the most eye-popping thing left in a car in 2023: $8,000 cash. How he handled it has to make him one of America’s most honest Uber drivers.
‘Do something good:’ Uber driver returns $8,000 Christmas gift to Hoover teen.
It all started when Kamau took Alex Tisdale, 16, on a 15-minute ride to John Hawkins Parkway in Hoover, Alabama. The two had a nice discussion that Kamau remembered because of the way Tisldale talked about his father. “He told me how his dad is proud of him and how he’s also very proud of him. And he said something which makes me feel very good,” Kamau told WVTM13.
After Kamau dropped off Tisdale, he immediately had another ride and noticed a red, Christmas-themed bag in the backseat. “I realized there’s something at the back of my seat. And I picked it up immediately. And when I checked, I saw this a lot of money, quite a lot, to be honest,” Kamau said.
At the same time, Tisdale was retracing his steps, trying to remember where he had left the bag of money that his father had given him to buy a motorcycle. “I was pacing around the parking lot just thinking, where? Where could I put it? Where would it be?” Tisdale said.
Both contacted Uber about the missing backpack, and the company connected them to organize a drop-off. Without hesitation, Kamau drove to Tisdale’s location to give him his bag full of money.
“I was relieved and so surprised he actually came back because that was a very, very nice thing of him to do. Actually, tipped him $10 for that,” Tisdale said.
Kamau wants his admirable display of honesty to be a lesson for Uber drivers everywhere. “When you do something good, OK, it comes back 10 times,” he said.
Kamau’s good deed is another beautiful reminder that personal integrity and kindness are worth a lot more than money. It’s also a wonderful reminder that in a world where bad news gets all of the headlines, there are still a lot of everyday heroes out there doing the right thing.
This is a touching story, but don’t let this Uber driver’s honesty give you a sense of complacency next time you’re riding in an Uber. If you leave something in the backseat, the rideshare company will charge you a $20 fee to have it returned.
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