Category: Viral

Our grocery store food and snack roundup is back! For weeks now, we’ve been grabbing snacks and new food products (or, at the very least, new to us) with every market run — taking a bunch of snacking Ls so that you don’t have to. Sure, it’s created a bit of a love-hate relationship with snacking for us, but that’s the job. We find the snacks that are actually worth your time and money so that you’ll never have to experience the horrors of getting a snack craving and opening your pantry doors only to find Flavor Blasted Cheddar & Sour Cream Goldfish.

Why are we picking on Flavor Blasted Goldfish? Because Flavor Blasted Cheddar & Sour Cream Goldfish are probably the worst new flavor of anything to ever be introduced. Too many ingredients; too much blasting. Just calm down, Pepperidge Farms. Goldfish crackers are meant to be bland.

Anyway, here are a bunch of new(ish) food products that pass our toughest scrutiny! We’ve carefully vetted these flavors to make sure they’re worth your shelf space.

Loud Grandma CBD-infused Chili Crisp Oil

Average Retail Price: $29

Loud Grandma’s CBD_infused Chili Crispy oil is amazing — and that’s not just the CBD talking. You’ll find that this chili crisp has some well-balanced heat, mouth-watering umami, notes of cracked pepper, and just a slight herbal tinge courteously of the CBD. It’ll quickly become a staple in your spice rack.

Made in collaboration between Win Son chef Calvin Eng and gourmet cannabis brand Pot d’Huile, Loud Grandma features 120mg of full-spectrum CBD per jar and is also available in a THC-infused version for those living in California. I haven’t tried the THC version, but if it’s as good as the CBD chili crisp and it gets me high — well… we have a winner, right there.

The Bottom Line:

Peppercorn and umami mingle in mouthwatering harmony, tamed by subtle herbal notes resulting in feelings of well-being after your meal. Is it the CBD? Maybe. Or maybe it’s just food. Who cares, it’s all delicious!

Oreo Chocolate Hazelnut

Average Price: $3.79

I’m not a huge fan of Oreo flavors that deviate away from the classic cookies and cream flavor Oreo is known for. Mint Oreos are always a slight disappointment over the real thing, and Birthday Cake Oreos can take a hike, but these Chocolate Hazelnut Oreos are pretty damn good.

Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t as good as the original. Cookies and cream will always be a better flavor combination than cookies and hazelnut chocolate. But this comes pretty damn close. The hazelnut chocolate isn’t nearly is thick as Nutella, it has an airy quality to it that is more similar to Oreo’s cream filling. Think E.L. Fudge cookie meets and Oreo and you’ve got yourself a pretty good idea of what this newcomer tastes like.

The Bottom Line:

Not quite as good as the original Oreo, but worth subbing in for the OG if you’re getting a little tired of the same old flavor.

Portland BBQ Sauce

Average Price: $6

BBQ sauce from… Portland? We know, we know, the best BBQ comes from the South, but this stuff is seriously good, with a well-balanced smokey flavor that isn’t too sweet or spicy but has that savory umami kick that a good BBQ sauce needs to have.

This organic BBQ sauce has notes of hickory and smoked paprika, with dark bursts of tamarind, allspice, and molasses with each flavor cutting through and being well represented. Our only gripe is, it’s a little red — we would’ve liked a deeper color. Still, seeing flecks of spice is always appealing.

The Bottom Line:

A great balanced organic BBQ sauce that proves the Pacific Northwest can hold its own in the BBQ game.

Sunny D Raspberry Lemonade

Average Price: $1.25 (for 16 oz)

“Ew Sunny D — don’t you know that stuff isn’t even real juice?”

Yeah yeah, blah blah blah, we know, and trust us we aren’t suggesting you buy this stuff for making a whole fruit smoothie at home or anything. This isn’t part of a healthy well-balanced meal or anything. But we’re still reccomending it.

Here’s why:

• Fill a tall glass with ice.

• Toss two shots of your favorite dry gin inside.

• Fill to the top with this Sunny D Raspberry Lemonade drink.

• Stir.

Boom! You’ve got yourself a low calorie — just 60 calories in the Sunny D per 8 ounces! — Gin and Juice that tastes a million times better than every White Claw flavor in existence and has fewer calories.

Garnish that by plopping in a slice of grapefruit and you’ve got yourself the best summer treat on this list.

The Bottom Line:

Remember ice + gin + Sunny D + grapefruit = happiness.

Lightlife Plant-Based Ground Beef

Average Price: $7.99

I love this product. In fact, in many ways, I like it more than Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods. Yes, seriously. But here’s the caveat: I like Lightlife mostly because of its texture. As a beef imitator, texturally speaking I think it’s the best on the market. If you make tacos or spaghetti bolognese with this, I doubt you could tell it’s not beef based on appearances.

So what about the flavor? The flavor of every dish I’ve made with Lightlife has been spectacular. But that’s also been mostly credited to me. I seasoned half a pound with garlic, taco seasoning, and enchilada sauce for a taco salad and fooled myself into thinking it was cow. I did another half pound with garlic, veggie broth, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and mixed it into a quick spaghetti bolognese. Again, 100%.

If you’re looking to plug and play someone else’s product straight into your meals, this isn’t the one. But if you want a platform to hold its texture and take on the flavor of what you season it with — this is really a sterling stand-in for meat.

The Bottom Line:

My personal favorite fake meat and the one I’ve found myself returning to most often.

Dartagnan Malossol Caviar

Average Price: $124.99

I don’t buy caviar a ton. Or often. I guess I don’t technically buy it even occasionally. But I got invited to write about it a fair bit when I was doing restaurant reviews and when I go to a party in Hollywood I hover around the caviar station like Christian Slater on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

So I consider myself something of a poor man’s connoisseur. And D’Argtagnan’s surgeon caviar is fantastic. It features small, tight pearls that are briny and rich without tasting like a mouthful of seawater. The pearls are deep green-black and hold their shape beautifully. There’s a “pop” to them when you press them to the roof of your mouth. On the palate, there’s a clear sense of the sea but you also get a nutty-fatty-almost-porky richness.

As with literally all seafood eaten in our era, the mark of quality is defined through the prism of sustainability and that’s where D’Artagnan’s shines. It’s farm-raised in France and packed within 30 minutes of harvesting. If you’re going to indulge in seafood, it’s nice to know it’s prepared in a way that the environment can handle.

The Bottom Line:

Rather than toast points, I say try this on a bite of blini with custard-style eggs and chives, backed by an ice-cold shot of vodka.

Fatboy Sugar Cookie Sandwich

Average Price $5.19

Ice cream sandwiches are the best dessert. Forget the ice cream cookie sandwich trend of a few years back, stick to the classics. These things endure. And the FatBoy brand is the best. The flavors are powerful but not overly sugary or chemical — two common flaws in a good old ice cream sando.

This flavor is newish for FatBoy (change your name to something that doesn’t guilt me, please) and it’s literally perfect. All the cake and batter and cookie ice cream flavors in the freezer are too sugary — not this one. It’s dense ice cream and carries a sweet flavor but it doesn’t make your teeth ache. It’s addictive and a full dessert but also holds up in the freezer for a few days if you cut it in 1/4ths.

The Bottom Line:

Summer distilled and the best ice cream sandwich at the grocery store.

Folios Cheese Wrap

Average Price $29.99 (three pack)

These things are amazing. They’ve been around for a while, but I just found them and our affair has been quick and passionate. Seriously, I absolutely love them.

And why wouldn’t I? They’re… sheets of cheese. And then you heat them up. And wrap shit.

As a person who fails at keto because I can’t give up burritos, these are my new ace-in-the-hole. They’re just so incredible — so flavorful and work so well as a tortilla stand-in. You can’t really make burritos with them because they don’t flex quite that much, but you can do cone-like wraps. You can also do tacos or put them in a taco salad shaper and do a TACO SALAD ENCASED IN CHEESE.

That’s what I did (I’m on a taco salad kick lately). It was so good that if it’s not in every bowling alley and roadside diner in five years, we riot.

Anyway, these are amazing and you probably don’t need me to wax philosophic about them because ultimately, they’re freaking cheese and cheese is a gift from the gods.

The Bottom Line:

These taste like real cheese and allow you to replace carbs. What more do you want from food tech?

Editor-In-Chief Pick: Bitchin’ Sauce

Average Retail Price: $5

Recently I attended a backyard BBQ that was hosted by a vegan couple I’m friendly with. As I surveyed the table filled with fixings to complement/ dress my Beyond burger, I noticed a sauce I’d not seen before.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s Bitchin’ Sauce, and it’ll change your life,” replied one of the hosts. “We put it on everything.”

Intrigued, I slathered some of it on my burger buns and was quite impressed. So impressed that I went out to the grocery store the next day to basically buy up as much Bitchin’ Sauce as I could find. Since then, I’ve basically planned all my meals to involve Bitchin’ Sauce. It’s astonishingly good, so good that I’m flummoxed as to how I’ve just now come to find out about it.

Best of all, all Bitchin’ Sauce products — and there are currently 13 of them, which our old pals at BroBible recently ranked — are completely vegan and devoid of any GMOs. So far, I’ve used Bitchin’ Sauces on burgers and sandwiches, as a salad dressing, as a dip for chips and veggies, and as a pasta sauce (and there are many other creative ways one can use it).

The Bottom Line:

If I ever decide to go full vegan, you can bet that the raw, cold-processed, almond-based, creamy Bitchin’ Sauce products will be a big reason why.

Our grocery store food and snack roundup is back! For weeks now, we’ve been grabbing snacks and new food products (or, at the very least, new to us) with every market run — taking a bunch of snacking Ls so that you don’t have to. Sure, it’s created a bit of a love-hate relationship with snacking for us, but that’s the job. We find the snacks that are actually worth your time and money so that you’ll never have to experience the horrors of getting a snack craving and opening your pantry doors only to find Flavor Blasted Cheddar & Sour Cream Goldfish.

Why are we picking on Flavor Blasted Goldfish? Because Flavor Blasted Cheddar & Sour Cream Goldfish are probably the worst new flavor of anything to ever be introduced. Too many ingredients; too much blasting. Just calm down, Pepperidge Farms. Goldfish crackers are meant to be bland.

Anyway, here are a bunch of new(ish) food products that pass our toughest scrutiny! We’ve carefully vetted these flavors to make sure they’re worth your shelf space.

Loud Grandma CBD-infused Chili Crisp Oil

Average Retail Price: $29

Loud Grandma’s CBD_infused Chili Crispy oil is amazing — and that’s not just the CBD talking. You’ll find that this chili crisp has some well-balanced heat, mouth-watering umami, notes of cracked pepper, and just a slight herbal tinge courteously of the CBD. It’ll quickly become a staple in your spice rack.

Made in collaboration between Win Son chef Calvin Eng and gourmet cannabis brand Pot d’Huile, Loud Grandma features 120mg of full-spectrum CBD per jar and is also available in a THC-infused version for those living in California. I haven’t tried the THC version, but if it’s as good as the CBD chili crisp and it gets me high — well… we have a winner, right there.

The Bottom Line:

Peppercorn and umami mingle in mouthwatering harmony, tamed by subtle herbal notes resulting in feelings of well-being after your meal. Is it the CBD? Maybe. Or maybe it’s just food. Who cares, it’s all delicious!

Oreo Chocolate Hazelnut

Average Price: $3.79

I’m not a huge fan of Oreo flavors that deviate away from the classic cookies and cream flavor Oreo is known for. Mint Oreos are always a slight disappointment over the real thing, and Birthday Cake Oreos can take a hike, but these Chocolate Hazelnut Oreos are pretty damn good.

Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t as good as the original. Cookies and cream will always be a better flavor combination than cookies and hazelnut chocolate. But this comes pretty damn close. The hazelnut chocolate isn’t nearly is thick as Nutella, it has an airy quality to it that is more similar to Oreo’s cream filling. Think E.L. Fudge cookie meets and Oreo and you’ve got yourself a pretty good idea of what this newcomer tastes like.

The Bottom Line:

Not quite as good as the original Oreo, but worth subbing in for the OG if you’re getting a little tired of the same old flavor.

Portland BBQ Sauce

Average Price: $6

BBQ sauce from… Portland? We know, we know, the best BBQ comes from the South, but this stuff is seriously good, with a well-balanced smokey flavor that isn’t too sweet or spicy but has that savory umami kick that a good BBQ sauce needs to have.

This organic BBQ sauce has notes of hickory and smoked paprika, with dark bursts of tamarind, allspice, and molasses with each flavor cutting through and being well represented. Our only gripe is, it’s a little red — we would’ve liked a deeper color. Still, seeing flecks of spice is always appealing.

The Bottom Line:

A great balanced organic BBQ sauce that proves the Pacific Northwest can hold its own in the BBQ game.

Sunny D Raspberry Lemonade

Average Price: $1.25 (for 16 oz)

“Ew Sunny D — don’t you know that stuff isn’t even real juice?”

Yeah yeah, blah blah blah, we know, and trust us we aren’t suggesting you buy this stuff for making a whole fruit smoothie at home or anything. This isn’t part of a healthy well-balanced meal or anything. But we’re still reccomending it.

Here’s why:

• Fill a tall glass with ice.

• Toss two shots of your favorite dry gin inside.

• Fill to the top with this Sunny D Raspberry Lemonade drink.

• Stir.

Boom! You’ve got yourself a low calorie — just 60 calories in the Sunny D per 8 ounces! — Gin and Juice that tastes a million times better than every White Claw flavor in existence and has fewer calories.

Garnish that by plopping in a slice of grapefruit and you’ve got yourself the best summer treat on this list.

The Bottom Line:

Remember ice + gin + Sunny D + grapefruit = happiness.

Litelife Plate Based Ground Beef

Average Price: $7.99

I love this product. In fact, in many ways, I like it more than Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods. Yes, seriously. But here’s the caveat: I like Lightlife mostly because of its texture. As a beef imitator, texturally speaking I think it’s the best on the market. If you make tacos or spaghetti bolognese with this, I doubt you could tell it’s not beef based on appearances.

So what about the flavor? The flavor of every dish I’ve made with Lightlife has been spectacular. But that’s also been mostly credited to me. I seasoned half a pound with garlic, taco seasoning, and enchilada sauce for a taco salad and fooled myself into thinking it was cow. I did another half pound with garlic, veggie broth, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and mixed it into a quick spaghetti bolognese. Again, 100%.

If you’re looking to plug and play someone else’s product straight into your meals, this isn’t the one. But if you want a platform to hold its texture and take on the flavor of what you season it with — this is really a sterling stand-in for meat.

The Bottom Line:

My personal favorite fake meat and the one I’ve found myself returning to most often.

Dartagnan Malossol Caviar

Average Price: $124.99

I don’t buy caviar a ton. Or often. I guess I don’t technically buy it even occasionally. But I got invited to write about it a fair bit when I was doing restaurant reviews and when I go to a party in Hollywood I hover around the caviar station like Christian Slater on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

So I consider myself something of a poor man’s connoisseur. And D’Argtagnan’s surgeon caviar is fantastic. It features small, tight pearls that are briny and rich without tasting like a mouthful of seawater. The pearls are deep green-black and hold their shape beautifully. There’s a “pop” to them when you press them to the roof of your mouth. On the palate, there’s a clear sense of the sea but you also get a nutty-fatty-almost-porky richness.

As with literally all seafood eaten in our era, the mark of quality is defined through the prism of sustainability and that’s where D’Artagnan’s shines. It’s farm-raised in France and packed within 30 minutes of harvesting. If you’re going to indulge in seafood, it’s nice to know it’s prepared in a way that the environment can handle.

The Bottom Line:

Rather than toast points, I say try this on a bite of blini with custard-style eggs and chives, backed by an ice-cold shot of vodka.

Fatboy Sugar Cookie Sandwich

Average Price $5.19

Ice cream sandwiches are the best dessert. Forget the ice cream cookie sandwich trend of a few years back, stick to the classics. These things endure. And the FatBoy brand is the best. The flavors are powerful but not overly sugary or chemical — two common flaws in a good old ice cream sando.

This flavor is newish for FatBoy (change your name to something that doesn’t guilt me, please) and it’s literally perfect. All the cake and batter and cookie ice cream flavors in the freezer are too sugary — not this one. It’s dense ice cream and carries a sweet flavor but it doesn’t make your teeth ache. It’s addictive and a full dessert but also holds up in the freezer for a few days if you cut it in 1/4ths.

The Bottom Line:

Summer distilled and the best ice cream sandwich at the grocery store.

Folios Cheese Wrap

Average Price $29.99 (three pack)

These things are amazing. They’ve been around for a while, but I just found them and our affair has been quick and passionate. Seriously, I absolutely love them.

And why wouldn’t I? They’re… sheets of cheese. And then you heat them up. And wrap shit.

As a person who fails at keto because I can’t give up burritos, these are my new ace-in-the-hole. They’re just so incredible — so flavorful and work so well as a tortilla stand-in. You can’t really make burritos with them because they don’t flex quite that much, but you can do cone-like wraps. You can also do tacos or put them in a taco salad shaper and do a TACO SALAD ENCASED IN CHEESE.

That’s what I did (I’m on a taco salad kick lately). It was so good that if it’s not in every bowling alley and roadside diner in five years, we riot.

Anyway, these are amazing and you probably don’t need me to wax philosophic about them because ultimately, they’re freaking cheese and cheese is a gift from the gods.

The Bottom Line:

These taste like real cheese and allow you to replace carbs. What more do you want from food tech?

Editor-In-Chief Pick: Bitchin’ Sauce

Average Retail Price: $5

Recently I attended a backyard BBQ that was hosted by a vegan couple I’m friendly with. As I surveyed the table filled with fixings to complement/ dress my Beyond burger, I noticed a sauce I’d not seen before.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s Bitchin’ Sauce, and it’ll change your life,” replied one of the hosts. “We put it on everything.”

Intrigued, I slathered some of it on my burger buns and was quite impressed. So impressed that I went out to the grocery store the next day to basically buy up as much Bitchin’ Sauce as I could find. Since then, I’ve basically planned all my meals to involve Bitchin’ Sauce. It’s astonishingly good, so good that I’m flummoxed as to how I’ve just now come to find out about it.

Best of all, all Bitchin’ Sauce products — and there are currently 13 of them, which our old pals at BroBible recently ranked — are completely vegan and devoid of any GMOs. So far, I’ve used Bitchin’ Sauces on burgers and sandwiches, as a salad dressing, as a dip for chips and veggies, and as a pasta sauce (and there are many other creative ways one can use it).

The Bottom Line:

If I ever decide to go full vegan, you can bet that the raw, cold-processed, almond-based, creamy Bitchin’ Sauce products will be a big reason why.

The unexpected passing of DMX has led to a whole host of projects cropping up in his memory. Not only is his label releasing a guest-packed posthumous album, Exodus, later this month, but his crew the Ruff Ryders have been active about organizing, too. Ruff Ryders to The Rescue organized a march in Houston called Ryde4Lyfe that will honor his memory, as well collaborate with the Philonise and Keeta Floyd Institution, founded by the brother of George Floyd’s brother, to commemorate the life of George Floyd.

Additionally, the event hopes to raise awareness for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that’s before Congress. If you’re in Houston and able to attend the march, it will start this Saturday, May 22 in McGregor Park at 8 AM CST and finish at the Jack Yates High School.

Check out more information on the march in an Instagram post shared to the Ruff Ryders To The Rescue account:

Here’s the full caption for the post:

Ruff Ryders 2 The Rescue is joining forces with Philonese & Keeta Floyd ‘Institute For Social Change for a game-changing ride event. Come out and support a monumental humanitarian cause! We are asking that everyone reach out to your local congressmen to ensure the vote to pass the “George Floyd Justice In Policing Act” In Congress. Our ride honors George Floyd & The Late Great DMX. For years, X has been the voice of strength, hope, and courage in the streets throughout the black community. Over the past decade, most of the Black culture has suffered behind police brutality without justice. We’ve watched countless viral videos of sisters and brothers senselessly beaten and gunned down by law enforcement. It’s time to end this cycle. We’re striving for the passing of this bill to help end police brutality in our culture and begin to hold law enforcement accountable. The ride out will take place on Saturday May 22nd at 8am CST in Houston and start at 5225 Calhoun Road and end at 3650 Alabama Street. The proceeds of the t-shirt will be donated to our campaign to end police brutality. Gear up, join us, and support a monumental humanitarian cause!

Learn more about the event here.

The Louisville men’s basketball program has been hit with a few scandals in recent years, and while the latest is not on the level of some of the past allegations it’s faced, a former assistant coach is now facing extortion charges. According to information released by the acting U.S. Attorney for the District Court of Western Kentucky, ex-assistant Dino Gaudio attempted to extort 17 months worth of salary from the program by threatening to reveal low-level recruiting violations to the media.

Specifically, Gaudio threatened to reveal that Louisville made recruiting videos for players they hoped would join the program, and in a text, he sent one of the videos to people at the university. This came after the program had already decided to part ways with Gaudio once his contract was up at the end of this past April.

“As detailed in the charging document, after Gaudio was informed that his contract would not be renewed, he threatened to inform members of the media of alleged NCAA violations within the men’s basketball program unless he was paid a significant sum of money,” Louisville said in a statement. “The allegations of violations are the impermissible production of recruiting videos for prospective student-athletes and the impermissible use of graduate managers in practices and workouts. While the University cannot comment further due to the ongoing federal investigation and the NCAA process, it continue to cooperate with authorities as well as with the NCAA on the matter.”

In a separate statement, Louisville coach Chris Mack said that “The University and I were the victims of Coach Gaudio’s conduct and I will continue to fully cooperate with authorities in their investigations. We take seriously any allegation of NCAA violations within our basketball program and will work within the NCAA processes to fully review the allegations.”

Gaudio’s lawyer has said he will not fight the charges, noting that he was caught on tape.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has been in his role as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made the 80-year-old longtime physician at the National Institute of Health a household name. Among the much more minor revelations to come out of the last year-plus is that Fauci was a point guard and captain of the Regis High School basketball team in the 1950s.

Late last month during an interview on All In with Chris Hayes, Fauci joked with the host — himself a former high school basketball player, albeit much more recently than 1958 — that he would “destroy” Hayes in a game of 1-on-1 should they play, which they could safely being both vaccinated.

This was a funny moment that got some thinking, namely the good fellas over at the No Dunks podcast, about whether Fauci stood a chance in a game of 1-on-1 with Hayes. On Tuesday, Hayes joined the No Dunks crew to set the record straight about how a 1-on-1 game with Fauci would go, and offer an update on whether it will happen — and why they will likely go in the direction of HORSE rather than 1-on-1.

As Hayes says, he would “physically injure” Fauci if they played 1-on-1 and that’s a big reason why he wants to play HORSE, because he can’t be the guy that hurts the director of the NIAID while playing basketball during an ongoing pandemic. It’s a funny conversation and Hayes tells a great story about how Barack Obama took an elbow from someone during a pickup game in his first term in office, which led to the end of Obama’s presidential pickup runs because the president can’t be getting hurt hooping. When pressed again he says there’s “literally no chance,” which while most likely true would make it even funnier if they played make-it-take-it and Fauci just caught fire from deep and ran Hayes off the floor.

At some point, the score must be settled and, honestly, Hayes runs a much bigger risk of getting washed in a game of HORSE because I have a feeling Fauci has some trick shots in his bag that he’s ready to unleash on the MSNBC host.

It’s a shame that many of us never truly appreciate what we have until it’s gone. But this flaw seems to be hardwired into the human condition. We always long for what we don’t have, instead of appreciating what we do.

Eddie Jaku, 101, has given himself the title of “happiest man on Earth” because, after living through the harrowing circumstances, he was able to appreciate what really matters in life.

On November 9, 1938, a night that would be forever known as Kristallnacht, or “the night of broken glass,” Nazi forces burned synagogues and destroyed Jewish stores, homes, and property. So, Jaku, a Jewish teenager, living in Germany, returned home to an empty house.

The next day he was terrorized by Nazis, who shot his dog, and took him to Buchenwald concentration camp.

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Eventually, he and his family would be taken to the most notorious Nazi camp. “I was finally transported to my hell on Earth, Auschwitz,” Jaku said according to Today. “My parents and my sister were also transported to Auschwitz, and I was never to see my parents again.”

In 1945, he was sent on a “death march” but escaped into the wilderness, surviving on snails and slugs until he was discovered by American forces.

The ‘Happiest Man On Earth,’ Shares His Wisdom

www.youtube.com

After the war, Jaku got married but still had a hard time shedding his painful past. However, after having his first son, he went through a powerful transformation.

Becoming a father inspired him to make a pledge that he’s kept to this day. “I made the promise that on that day, until the end of my life, I promised to be happy, smile, be polite, helpful, and kind. I also promised to never put my foot on German soil again,” he said in a 2019 TED Talk. “Today, I stand in front of you, a man who has kept all of those promises.”

Jaku also came to the realization that he will never truly be happy as long as there is hate in his heart. “Hate is a disease that may destroy your enemy, but will also destroy you in the process,” Jaku said.

As someone who lost a lot of family in the Holocaust, he derives an incredible amount of joy from his marriage, children, and grandchildren. He wants everyone to know that happiness is all about living in the now and embracing what you have, instead of waiting for happiness to come around the corner.

The happiest man on earth: 99 year old Holocaust survivor shares his story | Eddie Jaku | TEDxSydney

www.youtube.com

“Today I teach and share happiness with everyone I meet. Happiness does not fall from the sky, it’s in your hands,” he said.

“Tomorrow will come, but first enjoy today,” he added.

“For me, when I wake up, I am happy because it is another day to enjoy,” he said. “When I remember that I should have died a miserable death, but instead I’m alive, so I aim to help people who are down.”

Jaku’s wisdom is especially important as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us who haven’t lived through traumatic events now know what it’s like to be disconnected from the things that really matter.

Hopefully, the positive lesson we can all take from the pandemic is to appreciate the simple things we couldn’t do such as hugging a parent or spending time with friends. It’s also a reason to appreciate your health.

“If you are healthy, you’re a multimillionaire,” Jaku said.

Jaku wants to remind people that there’s nothing better than being a friend.

“Remember these words,” he concluded his TED Talk. “Please do not walk in front of me, I may not be able to follow. Please do not walk behind me, I may not be able to lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

During Young Thug’s recent second appearance on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, the Atlanta trap mad scientist covered a lot of topics, from clearing the air regarding his Jay-Z Verzuz comments to recalling a bet he made with a peer over whether the notorious Tekashi 69 would testify against his former comrades in the Nine Trey Bloods set.

It turns out, it was a pretty safe, “friendly” bet (in Young Thug’s words), as Tekashi did eventually end up testifying for a reduced sentence — a move that benefitted him personally, but left him essentially persona non grata among rap peers who believe he violated street code. Although Thug himself doesn’t subscribe to this belief, he said he simply believes in loyalty and was brought up not to spill his friends’ secrets.

Detailing the bet itself, Thug refused to share who it was with (see above), but still shared enough to back up the story. “I can’t say his name, but I bet another rapper,” he recalled. “I don’t know where he from. I think the West Coast…. bet another rapper that 6ix9ine [would] tell before he told. I’m like, ‘He gon’ tell.’ Me and him bet a friendly $5,000…. I bet $5,000 that he’d tell and he bet $5,000 that nothing is gonna happen to him. I bet $5,000 that something was gonna happen to him, too. I don’t know why I had that belief. I really believed he gon’ think he gangsta, he gon’ try to step out, and somebody gon’ do somethin’. Even if it’s on some humble sh*t.”

Of course, to date, nothing serious has happened to Tekashi, although he’s kept up his trollish antics. Part of that may be due to the pandemic that shut down most public life over the past year and part of it may be due to the security guards he seemingly has around him at all times, but either way, it looks like Thug only gets to collect on half that bet for the time being. Considering he recently claimed to have lost nearly a million dollars in one night in Vegas, maybe he should consider leaving the gambling to the professionals.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

While touring the Ford Motor Company’s Michigan plant on Tuesday, President Joe Biden surprised reporters by pulling up in the new electric Ford F-150 Lightning truck, rocking his trademark Aviator shades, of course. Biden stopped to chit-chat with the press pool for a bit but he couldn’t resist the urge to open the truck up outside the facility. As a noted fan of muscle cars, Biden floored the vehicle after promising to top out at 80. When he returned to the pool, the president was clearly impressed.

“This sucker’s quick,” a grinning Biden told reporters after tearing down the track. You can see some of the footage below:

Of course, it didn’t take long for social media to remember the last time a president was behind the wheel of a big truck, and it was notably less badass. In fact, it was anything but, as Donald Trump oddly screamed and yelled while pretending to drive an 18-wheeler parked outside of the White House. Trump even wore an “I Love Trucks” button, which again, was basically the exact opposite of Biden’s badass test drive.

The new Ford F-150 Lightning reveal was not on the books, but the motor company apparently jumped at the opportunity to show it off when Biden arrived at the facility. According to CNBC, the updated version of the Ford truck won’t be on sale until next year, but it’s expected to drive the sale of electric vehicles as pickups are “the bestselling vehicles in the country.” In fact, don’t be surprised to see one parked outside the White House in the near future.

Cruel Summer (Freeform, 9:00pm) — This new series heads into Week Two. The story goes down in the 1990s and follows the aftermath of a popular teen going missing. When a seemingly unrelated shy student suddenly becomes massively popular, well, things look pretty strange. This week, Jeanette’s case is threatened by a deposition while Cindy starts to suspect her own daughter of deeds that she never imagined possible.

Chad (TBS, 10:30pm) — SNL veteran Nasim Pedrad takes on the title role, that of a 14-year-old boy, and this week, Chad has a real shot at hanging with the popular kids at a boys’ weekend getaway.

Black-ish (ABC, 9:00pm) — The urban marketing team makes Dre feel pigeonholed, all while Lido’s looking for a career change, and Junior’s having trouble with the twins.

Mixed-ish (ABC, 9:30pm) — New bicycle memories are the name of the game in 1980s flashbacks as Adult Rainbow, Johan, and Santamonica look back through different lenses.

Prodigal Son (FOX 9:00pm) — “The Woodsman” serial killer might be the key to hitting very close to home for the NYPD.

The Flash (CW, 8:00pm) — Barry’s working on a new training system that’s not exactly foolproof, and Iris is at her wit’s end while digging for the truth about Psych.

Superman & Lois (CW, 9:00pm) — Clark wrestles with whether or not Jordan should play football, and Lois is still digging into Morgan Edge, where she must choose to trust an unlikely ally.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Chris Rock, WILLOW

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Nick Jonas, Sam Jay, Sec. Deb Haaland, Brian Frasier-Moore

In case you missed these streaming picks:

Those Who Wish Me Dead (Warner Bros. movie on HBO Max) — Angelina Jolie’s in a straight-to-streaming movie, y’all. She portrays a smoke jumper in Montana who is used to a life full of danger, but soon, she’s dealing with riskier situations than she ever signed up to handle. Part of this has to do with attempting to save the life of a skittish boy, who’s being chased by killers for some reason, and then an inferno goes completely haywire. This is an intense one, and Jon Bernthal and Nicholas Hoult co-star.

Love, Death & Robots: Volume 2 (Netflix series) — Two years ago, Netflix previewed this adult-animated series from co-executive producers David Fincher and Tim Miller, with the “messed up audiences only” label. Comfortingly, it sure looks like not a whole lot has changed for the show’s vibe. As with the Emmy-winning first season of this show, this trailer tells us to expect more existential “robots-gone-wild” but fewer of them (along with “naked giants” and “Christmas demons”), as the series included eighteen short films in the initial round but will crank out eight more for this second batch. All will keep the seemingly infinite number of animation styles going, including a very simple-looking installment that, uh, involves a poop-scooping robot.

Video games have gone through a number of changes over the decades, but few things have impacted the industry as much as crowdfunding. Thanks to tools like Kickstarter, potential video game developers can create whatever game they want, so long as enough fans had an interest.

It’s also why something that started off as a small demo on Newgrounds.com is quickly on its way to becoming its own game. Friday Friday Night Funkin’ was a small rhythm game Ninjamuffin99, PhantomArcade, evilsk8r, and KawaiSprite created in the style of games like PaRappa The Rappa. First released in late 2020, it has earned cult hit status with rhythm game fans everywhere singing its praises. The devs of the game initially made small updates so fans could check in and play the new levels, but with each new addition, it became clear they had something special on their hands.

Eventually, places like YouTube started to become full of people covering the killer soundtrack. It’s become one of the most played games on Twitch. This cult hit is slowly gaining popularity and by year’s end could become one of 2021’s most popular games. The developers began a Kickstarter so they could turn this into a bonafide released title, and as of this writing, Friday Night Funkin: The Full Ass Game has funded $2 million.

Friday Night Funkin wouldn’t be the first game from Newgrounds to become its own title — indie hits like Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers were born out of Newgrounds. But Friday Night Funkin‘s rise is an example of how the industry of video games is changing thanks to crowdfunding. We haven’t seen a game in the style of Friday Night Funkin in years and we can only assume it’s due to studios feeling there wasn’t a reason to put money into that kind of project. It’s an unfortunate gap from AAA developers that indie games are managing to fill.

The message from fans, though, is clear: Friday Night Funkin is a great game and they want to see more of it. For anyone that wants to give it a try, they can still play it on Newgrounds. It’s a fun game worth playing for the soundtrack alone and a ton of work has already gone into it. The best part is that it’s very likely the final product is even better. With the money being raised through its Kickstarter, we might have a game of the year contender on our hands.