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“He was articulate. He was grounded. He was spiritual. He was an athlete. He was an organizer. He was a comforter. He was an encourager.”
Protesters enraged over two unarmed black people killed by police led to a Minneapolis precinct being stormed and the activation of the national guard.
If you’re brand new to TikTok, it’s only a matter of time before you realize that when it comes to everyone’s favorite new social media app, it’s all about style over substance. For me, that moment came when I stumbled across the “pancake cereal” trend that has absolutely dominated the app this month — racking up over a billion views under its respective hashtag. Like March’s whipped instant coffee fad, pancake cereal requires absolutely no skill or special tools to make, and most importantly looks amazing!
Never mind how it tastes, right? Who wouldn’t want to eat a bowl of tiny pancakes? Looking cute, cool, or interesting is all food needs in order to go viral on TikTok.
@sydneymelhoff Pancake dip n dots
This was a joke but actually tasted amazing #breakfast #pancake #tiktokdiy #positivevibes #cooking #keepingbusy #passover
For non-users of the platform, there’s no crazy recipe for success here. Tiny versions of things are cute, and TikTok loves cute things. This particular trend originated back in April thanks to a post by Sydney Melhoff who “discovered” pancake cereal after she made a batch of regular pancakes, removed some of the batter splashes from the pan and realized the tiny mini pancakes tasted amazing. From there, she made an entire bowl, put a pad of butter on top, poured some milk over it, and set the whole thing to “Over It Chinese New Year Remix” by JohhnyG.
The rest was (supposedly) delicious history. Unfortunately, once you look past how cute pancake cereal is and think about what it might taste like, you’ll quickly realize that the answer is: probably not terrific. First, you make a large batch of tiny little pancakes (okay, those sound good), then you spatula them into a bowl (no problem), then you put a pad of butter on top with a maple syrup drizzle (right, because they’re pancakes), and then you pour milk into the bowl (because it’s implied by the whole “cereal” bit). At which point, you quickly discover that there’s a reason all the videos end as soon as the milk is poured in. No one actually wants a bowl of soggy little pancakes.
With a fair bit of cooking time on our hands in quarantine, we took her Melhoff’s pancake cereal recipe and tested it out. She’s a legend in the tiny food genre (oh yes, it’s a thing), so this was the natural place to start. Once we realized that, adorable as it was, the recipe wasn’t going to work from a taste standpoint, we got creative with it and cobbled together a something that was far more enjoyable (if perhaps slightly less adorable).
Everything You Need To Make Pancake Cereal
- Pancake mix (you can, of course, make your pancakes from scratch, using real vanilla bean and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract like our pancake-obsessed food editor, but you don’t need to)
- Zip-lock bag
- Scissors
- Butter
- Maple syrup
Like Dalgona coffee, you likely have everything you need to make pancake cereal at home right now. You don’t need to follow a special pancake batter recipe and you don’t need any special tools, just use whatever pancake mix you have in your pantry, pour it in a zip-lock bag, clip the tip, and pour batter droplets the size of a penny all over the pan. [Please at least put a little vanilla extract in there -the pancake-obsessed editor]
Everyone in your house will make fun of you for pretending to be a pastry chef with your piping bag, but the smell of freshly made tiny pancakes will win them over. Once your pancakes are done, put them in a bowl, add a pad of butter, drizzle some maple syrup.
Sounds simple but you mentioned something about it tasting bad?
Yeah, it’s absolutely awful. Once milk hits your pancakes, they will instantly soak it up and start to swell to twice their size as they become inundated with milk. Also a pad of butter in milk? What are you out of your mind? The milk will make it cold and it won’t melt. You’ll ignore it until you get wrapped up in a conversation and take a bite without looking only to find a pad of cold butter in your mouth.
Truthfully, there isn’t a single pleasant bite to be had with this dish. If you don’t have plans to film yourself putting it together and setting it to some way-too-loud remix that blows out everyone’s speakers, just don’t even bother. No shade towards Sydney Melhoff — she’s a master at making cute tiny foods. But in no world does this taste good.
But there’s got to be a way, right?
I wasn’t about to spend almost an hour making really tiny pancakes just to throw them away. So I got creative with it, not for TikTok fame, not for the sake of this article, but because I couldn’t bring myself to leave pancake cereal in the realm of “a thing that is not nearly as delicious as it sounds.”
Let me set the scene for you:
The time was 10 p.m. A gentle westerly wind blew through the kitchen window. The faint sound of a dog barking at a possum could be heard in the distance over a gentle wash of chirps from the late spring crickets. As the dank smell of freshly smoked cannabis wafted through the house, a lonely man toiled away above his stovetop — drip-dropping pancake batter onto an iron pan radiating with heat. One-by-one, the housemates who had previously criticized the man with his bag-o-batter floated into the kitchen like Looney Tunes characters, enticed by the irresistible smell of pancakes after a weed session. Eyes wide with wonder and stomachs grumbling.
“Ready yet?” they asked.
“No,” said the man, cackling maniacally as he scooped the last of the pancakes into a bowl, tossed them with butter, and arranged them on a piece of foil. “For now, comrades, they must toast.”
“Oh… alright then,” his friends said, eyeing him strangely. “Um… just let us know when you’re done or whatever?”
The man set his ancient toaster oven to 300 degrees and it began to rattle. Its coils took on a menacing red glow. As the man pulled open the toaster oven’s creaking door, the smell of a fallen onion from someone else’s sandwich overwhelmed him.
“Damn, I’ll have to clean this stupid thing first,” he thought.
After a deep clean, the man was back on track. He gave his pancake dots 30 minutes of baking time in the real oven, plus a single toast cycle. At this point, the man’s housemates had lost interest and either gone to bed or ordered pizza. It was better this way. His mad creation was finally complete and was his alone to savor.
And it was actually pretty damn good.
So wait, you did what?
The biggest problem with TikTok’s pancake cereal is that it isn’t at all like cereal. It’s just tiny, and in a bowl with milk. That doesn’t make it cereal and if you don’t believe that, just take a look at this sushi iteration (disgusting). So I decided to toast and dry my mini pancakes like bread crumbs in the toaster oven to give them a more cereal-like consistency and more resistant to being soaked. Then I doused them in a cinnamon-sugar blend, and let them cool until they were room temperature. You know, like cereal is.
- Once you’ve made mini-pancakes, toss them in a bowl with butter and maple syrup so that you don’t put those ingredients in the milk like some kind of monster.
- Arrange pancakes on a piece of foil and place them in an oven set at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Remove pancakes from oven and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar to taste.
- For an extra toasty crunch, toast your pancakes in the toaster oven with your preferred amount of toast cycles.
- Let pancakes cool.
- Put pancakes in a bowl, pour your choice of milk, and enjoy your legitimately good tasting pancake cereal.
The end result is deliciously crispy (we’re talking ASMR-level crunch here) and incredibly filling. The butter and syrup toss and extended oven time allowed the flavors to comingle a little and marry with the milk in a way that isn’t totally offensive.
Does this taste better than the actual TikTok pancake trend? Absolutely. Is this better than your favorite cereal? It depends on how much you like pancakes. Is it at all worth the time and effort that it takes to make this? It depends on how much you like the idea of pancakes and cereal or have people over for breakfast you want to impress. But if you’re going to go through the trouble of making over a hundred tiny pancakes, you might as well take another few minutes to truly make something that actually tastes good. Even if it’s not as prone to virality.
Orville Peck is one of the more enigmatic figures in country music, and yet, he has found himself a space within the genre. The 2019 debut album Pony brought acclaim to the mysterious singer, and now he is ready to follow that release up with a new EP, Show Pony. That is set to drop on June 12, and alongside the announcement, he also shared a video for “No Glory In The West.”
The somber tune is accompanied by a trail-faring tune, in which he and his horse search for something across mostly barren landscapes. Lyrically, the tune mirrors the visual as it addresses his restless travels. Peck sings, “Blazin’ on ahead / Burning through it / Coming down the bend / Nowhere left to go, goin’s all we know / Ridin’ past the best / And there’s still no rest / And there’s still no rest / There ain’t no glory in the west.”
One of the biggest takeaways from the six-song Show Pony tracklist is that it features “Legends Never Die,” which is a duet with country legend Shania Twain, so that is certainly something to anticipate.
Watch the “No Glory In The West” video above, and check out the Show Pony art and tracklist below.
1. “Summertime”
2. “No Glory In The West”
3. “Drive Me, Crazy”
4. “Kids”
5. “Legends Never Die” (duet with Shania Twain)
6. “Fancy”
Show Pony is out 6/12 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.
As viral TMZ footage of Denzel Washington helping a homeless man during a police encounter continues to circulate, it’s worth noting another Denzel connection as highlighted in an Esquire profile of his son, John David Washington. That article’s part of the lead up to the (still planned) July release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and we’ve already discussed how the Inception director decided to cast the younger Washington while attending the world premiere of Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. Yet the Denzel portion of the profile is really something as well.
Prior to Lee’s film, John David had appeared within few roles, but as it turns out, Denzel was the last immediate family member to be aware of his son’s acting aspirations (given his football leanings) until he landed a role on HBO’s Ballers. John David told Esquire that his mother had driven him to an audition, since he was medicated after a surgery to repair his Achilles tendon — an injury that effectively ended his athletic career. The pair kept the audition situation under wraps from dad, who was in “disbelief” when John David shared the wonderful news:
“There was disbelief,” Washington says. The reaction couldn’t have been further from that celebration when he was signed by the NFL years earlier. His dad “kept asking questions like ‘For HBO? Like Home Box Office Entertainment? Who? Really? But what’s it called? The Rock?’ He just kept asking questions like ‘Is this real?’ I guess he had to check it with his agents to make sure it was real.”
Nothing like a vote of confidence from dad, even if it took a little while for Denzel to realize this was really happening, right? Still, John David explained that Denzel was quite pleased before insisting that some formal acting classes would soon be in order. Well, everything appears to have worked out for the better for all involved, and John David Washington will soon be seen in one of the only blockbusters still scheduled for summer 2020. Tenet will land in theaters on July 17.
(Via Esquire)
Aubrey Plaza’s awkward and weird, and she knows it. She recently revisited one of her most notoriously unwieldy characters in the reunion special for Parks and Recreation, and she’s found no shortage of various awkward and/or weird roles, from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to Safety Not Guaranteed, and from Legion to Playing It Cool and so on. She further carries that vibe onto talk shows, where she’s showcased her famously deadpan humor to perfection. Now, Aubrey’s getting a little less strange alongside Kenan Thompson for a Barefoot Bubbly ad campaign, in which she indulges in a “#SummerDream in a can” with the brand’s Hard Seltzer and Spritzer drinks.
The Life After Beth zombie chatted with us about this ad gig and, in doing so, she was gracious enough to take a look back at her most awkward auditions. We also discussed her thirst to portray the She-Hulk lead (“I have a rage brewing within me”), and she passed on audition advice that, while useful for her, one probably doesn’t want to take. Oh, and Aubrey’s adept at roasting people, as we saw when she hosted this year’s Indie Spirit Awards, but I didn’t overlook that there was awkward dancing to talk about, too.
It’s excellent to be talking with a fellow awkward weirdo, especially one whose brand is strong in that department.
Oh my god. You are welcome in my awkward weirdo club. We need more members to make people feel uncomfortable.
Speaking of uncomfortable, Michael Schur once declared that you scored the April role on Parks and Rec role by making him feel uncomfortable for an hour. Was that a strategy?
No, I swear to god. What’s so funny about that meeting is that I didn’t even realize the weight of that meeting. At the time, The Office was so popular, and I was a huge fan, and when I went to LA, the casting director asked me if I wanted to go meet them, and I was like, “Sure!” And she said they were on the set of The Office, so all I cared about was being on that set and seeing famous people from the cast. Because I was so starstruck, I kept seeing like Mindy Kaling walk by, and I was like, “I can’t believe I’m on the set of The Office.” So I guess I was being awkward because I wasn’t paying attention to him? I didn’t realize that they were actually making a TV show that I could be on. I never in a million years thought that I would end up on a TV show, I just thought I was just doing a weird general meeting, and I just kept looking out the door and trying to see people from The Office.
He played it off like you were doing the side-eye for an hour straight or something.
I know! I think I just wasn’t engaged in the way that maybe I should have been because most people would be like, “Oh, this is my big shot at being on a TV show.” But in my mind, I was like, “I don’t care about that! I care about meeting famous people.” But I guess it worked out!
Let’s awkwardly talk about the Barefoot canned beverages. What is the difference between the Barefoot hard seltzer and the Barefoot spritzer?
Okay, well, I’m an expert at this now, and I will tell you that the Barefoot hard seltzer is basically like sparkling water and wine. And it’s the best because I have to be on the Barefoot hard seltzer team because Kenan and I had to pick sides. So, that is my favorite, and Barefoot spritzers taste like wine with a splash of water, basically, so they’re a little bit more sweet and really good, but Barefoot hard seltzers have that crisp, refreshing sparkling water taste, and they’re also sweet.
So if I’m the kind of person who drinks boxed wine, which would I like?
You would probably like the spritzers? Look, they are delicious. Wine with water sounds weird, but it’s actually really refreshing and good. The hard seltzers are more like if you’re into that carbonated bite-flavor, and it’s less calories and stuff, so if you’re watching your figure and don’t wanna get crazy, you might wanna opt for that. But the spritzers are so delicious that you might be like, “Fuck my figure, I need this.”
Can you dance while holding one of these cans?
Yeah, you can dance with them, and chug one and crush it up, and throw it in a bucket and make a game out of it. That’s what I would do. And then you recycle it because we have to be good.
Yes, we have to recycle. But now I’m thinking about how you once described your awkward dancing on Conan.
Oh god.
You were talking about your Irish heritage and how that reflected upon your dancing, like with Riverdance where they don’t move their arms.
Okay, so picture me with both of my arms pointing straight downward at the ground, but I have two hard seltzers in my hands and then only my feet are moving, and no one’s dancing with me because it’s weird. That’s pretty much what happens.
I need to see a Photoshop of that, which reminds me, there are Photoshops out there from Marvel fans who are dreamcasting She-Hulk. You’ve been talking about wanting that role for years. Is that still a dream?
Yes, of course! I would be honored to play She-Hulk. It’s such a fun character, and I think it would be perfect for me because people think that I’m very quiet and awkward, but I have a rage brewing within me, and it would give me an opportunity to let that out. And let my freak flag fly in a way that I could also… save the world? With my rage. Also, I really wanna be green.
Well, I saw how you throttled Michael Shannon in a The Lighthouse spoof, so I think we need to campaign for you to get that rage out somehow.
Thank you! This is what I’m talking about. No one believes in me, but I can do this! If you just give me a chance to be green and to rage out, but also be funny. I feel like I’ve got it all going on, but we’ll see what the Marvel gods want.
You got to get a little comic-book-y, if that is a word, with Legion.
Yeah, I got a taste of it.
How’d you get that role, which was meant for a middle-aged man?
I don’t know. Something about my aura, I guess. I wanted to get with Noah Hawley about playing the female lead, and then after he met one time, he offered me this one part. And after meeting me, I guess he thought, “Actually, Aubrey would be great at playing a middle-aged drug addict man in a mental institution.” I don’t remember what I said in that meeting, but I guess it was disturbing. Also, at the time, I had been recovering from ACL knee surgery, so I was on a lot of pain medication, so maybe I was, like, saying some crazy stuff on my meds and looked probably insane because I was walking on crutches. I just looked like a crazy person, and he was like, “Perfect!”
That part about the meds almost makes too much sense.
Yes, always go to an audition after you’ve had major surgery.
Great career advice there. You also hosted the Independent Spirit Awards again this year, and in doing so, you made the case that award show hosts might not be a dying breed. How did you tackle your channeling of an icon, Judy Garland?
That’s like my 12-year-old dream come true. Honestly, one of the reasons why I decided to host again is because Judy was nominated because I was so obsessed with her when I was little that I thought, “This is my chance!” To do a Judy celebration, one that I could get away with because it’s relevant. So, I just went for it. I decided, “You know what? I’m gonna be selfish about this, I’m gonna write something that I wanna do.” I thought that it also fit in with the Jojo Rabbit kind-of vibe where you have an imaginary friend, and I just combined that with Judy. And I also wanted to do an opening number, so I just leaned into the Judy-ness. I was just hoping it wouldn’t come off crazy and embarrassing.
It really did fit the Jojo Rabbit vibe, now that I think back.
Thank you! And I wanted it to be different than last year, which was a little more in line with the persona that people think of me as, like a witchy, demonic incantation, but this year, I was like, “You know what? Fuck it. I’m gonna put on a show, just like Judy would do!” And I’m nostalgic for the Billy Crystal Oscar openings. I think people remember those shows because of him, you know? And when you don’t have a host, there’s nothing to remember the show by. I hate to lose that. I think it’s important.
Do you think there’s any way to move back into having an Oscar host, with how politicized it’s all become? Old tweets get dug up, and hosts get picked apart.
I hope so! I don’t know. I think we’re living in a kind-of scary time when people are so afraid to be in the spotlight. I would hope that people would be open to someone just taking a shot at it, and there would be a way for someone to get up there and do something that doesn’t have to be some huge political statement. I don’t really do that in the shows that I do because I’m more interested in celebrating art. And art is complicated, and we can’t make everything political all the time. There’s a time and place for it, but can’t we just celebrate movies?
You clearly enjoy roasting people, so is there anyone who you’d love to roast but haven’t done yet? And who would you not want to roast?
Robert De Niro gave away the final award of that show, and I wanted him to be sitting in the audience and in the front row, so I could roast him, and that would be really funny because he did a movie called Dirty Grandpa, which is ridiculous in and of itself. I would love to roast him someday if given the chance, but who’s someone who I wouldn’t want to roast? Hmm, Meryl Streep.
Yeah, she’s untouchable.
She’s untouchable, and she’s the coolest. I want to be her, so I can’t roast her.
Watch Aubrey Plaza and Kenan Thompson’s Barefoot Wine and Bubbly #SummerDream commercial below.
Cardi B has never timid about sharing her views on current events and with the recent police killing of George Floyd and subsequent uprising in Minnesota, the Bronx rapper has once again chimed in to provide context and suggest a possible solution. She opened her latest Instagram video with her reaction to the uprisings overtaking Minnesota, saying that she’s “scared” of the images, but that she understands.
“It makes me feel like, ‘Finally, yes. Motherf*ckers are gonna hear us now,’” she explains. “And as much as people is so against it, at this point, I feel like I’m not against it even though it do scare me and I don’t want anybody to get hurt. It’s really frustrating because police brutality been going on even way before I was born, but it’s been more visible ever since social media started getting popping… How many peaceful protests have we seen? How many trending hashtags have we seen?”
Cardi even throws in a self-deprecating reference to her own habit of posting videos in response to injustice. “I’ve been doing police brutality videos ever since my teeth been f*cked up and the only thing that changed has been my f*cking teeth. People are tired.” However she doesn’t leave it there, reminding her viewers that the most control they have is through the existing systems. “I don’t wanna make everything political, but it is what it is. It’s by voting. And when I say ‘voting’ I’m not only talking about the president. We can vote for mayors, we can vote for judges, and we can also vote for D.A.s (district attorneys)… They have the power to prosecute these cops.”
In an earlier video, Cardi also announced her partnership with GoGiveaways explaining that they are giving away $20,000 to four people. In the caption, she writes: “I’m giving away $20,000 to 4 people! During these hard and uncertain times I have decided to team up with GoGiveaways and give back to those in need. Although we cannot control the effects of Covid-19 We hope that we can make a difference in a few peoples lives and lift the financial burden.”
Watch Cardi B’s political plea above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.