Category: Worldwide

Finding the best cheese in the world is both a fool’s errand and perhaps the most fun food adventure you can ever hope to have. Cheese is so distinctly versatile in form, texture, flavors, and even function that you really can’t define it as a monolith. How dare you compare the runny funkiness of camembert to the crumbly nature of a mold-riddled Stilton? There are those out there who will ride-or-die for American cheese slices while others do the same for fresh sheep’s milk cheese grilled over a flame.

The point being, there’s just so much to the genre. It’s every bit as diverse as whiskey. Or shoes.

To help us figure out which cheese reigns supreme, we checked in on the masses over at Ranker. After over 90,000 votes, a solid — albeit very Euro-centric — list of cheeses emerged. Though it misses some Eastern and South American gems, it’s generally hard to argue with.

Here’s what the masses think are the best cheeses in the world — plus a recommendation for that type from your friends at Uproxx.

10. Cheddar

The Cheese:

Ah, cheddar. This English cheese has become the cornerstone of many a cheese-eaters board, burger toppings, pasta pairings, and everyday snacking. The semi-hard nature of the cheese makes it great for melting. The flavor is fully creamy with no funk whatsoever.

The One To Try:

Cabot Farms cheddar is consistently awarded as some of the best mainstream cheddar made in the U.S. You can grab an 8-oz. brick of their Mild Cheddar for $4.95.

9. Brie

The Cheese:

This ultra-creamy cow’s milk cheese is a delight when done right. The white-mold rind really helps counterpoint the soft, creamy texture of the cheese within. It’s a full-on textural experience. The smooth cheese should lean into slight notes of grassiness and nuttiness.

The One To Try:

Marin French Petit Creme Brie is a great option if you don’t want to pay extra for the stuff from France. This California cheese really amps up the creaminess of the product and is about half the price. You can grab a 4-oz. round for $5.87.

8. Monterey Jack

The Cheese:

Monterey Jack dates back to the 1700s and Spanish colonialists in Central and Northern California remaking cheese from their Spanish homelands. The mild and semi-soft cow’s milk cheese is generally a pretty fast cheese — requiring only a month of aging before it can be used. It’s a hell of melter and works wonders in burritos, in a grilled cheese sandwich, and on top of burgers.

The One To Try:

Oregon’s Tillamook Monterey Jack is often called out as the best in the country. It’s mild, melty, and very accessible for $3.43 for an 8-oz brick.

7. Provolone

The Cheese:

This Italian cheese is a semi-hard cow’s milk mild cheese that’s also great for melting, especially if you want that cheese-stretch in your photos. The mildness of the cheese also makes it very easy to love. The actual Italian version usually comes in a bulbous wax covering and it a little funkier than the Italian-American version. The original is great on its own but works really well as a grilling cheese with a lot of herbs, spices, and olive oil.

The One To Try:

It might be time to give the real stuff from Italy a shot. Auricchio Stravecchio Provolone sells 9-oz. wedges for $18.95.

6. “Swiss”

The Cheese:

American “Swiss” cheese is kind of its own thing but it’s also just a shittier version of the Swiss Emmentaler. Look, Switzerland makes over 450 distinct types of cheese. So calling just one of them “Swiss” is ridiculous… yet here we are.

Anyway, an Emmentaler is jacked up with bacteria that expands while the cheese ages, creating the iconic holes in the body of the cheese. It’s a creamy, semi-hard cheese that leans into the creaminess and grassiness of all that Alpine milk involved.

The One To Try:

Give the real stuff a try. It’s a little spendy at $29.98 for 1-lb., but it’s 100 percent worth every cent of that price.

5. Feta

The Cheese:

It’s always nice to see a sheep/goat cheese make this list of best cheeses. This Greek treat is very crumbly cheese that has a nice creaminess next to a slight barnyard funk and grassiness that feels a little briny. It’s complex yet accessible.

The One To Try:

You don’t have to pay extra for some straight from Greece — though, don’t let us stop you. Kryssos Traditional Feta Cheese from Wisconsin gets the job done. You can usually grab an 8-oz. block for $5.50.

4. Gouda

The Cheese:

Just as Cheddar comes from a town in England, Gouda comes from the town of Gouda in The Netherlands. The cow’s milk cheese is a semi-hard classic that can be young (aged for only four weeks) to old (aged for over a year). The underlying taste is a creaminess next to mild nuttiness that becomes more funky, crumbly, and nutty as it ages.

The One To Try:

VAN KAAS Dutch Gouda is the way to go for the real deal stuff without breaking the bank. You can generally pick up a 7-oz. wedge for $6.15.

3. Parmigiano-Reggiano

The Cheese:

It’s pretty disappointing this isn’t number one. Look at it this way, if you’ve never had Parmigiano-Reggiano from Emilia-Romagna in Italy, you’ve never truly had parmesan. This cheese is a masterpiece of cheese-making from grass to board. The creaminess of the cheese is counterpointed by the crystalline texture of the body next to the slight funk, grassiness, nuttiness, and serious depth. It’s so, so much more than something you just sprinkle on your spaghetti or pizza.

The One To Try:

You can get 6-oz. of the real-deal stuff from specialty shops for as little as $8. Do it immediately.

2. Mozzarella

The Cheese:

Ah, fresh mozzarella broken up on a pizza with a little San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil, and olive oil is something hard to say no to. Even low-moisture mozz — with its string cheese texture — is still a creamy, stretchy delight. Though, we all know the real stuff that comes in tubs of water is the real winner here. The soft creaminess next to that slight hint of bitterness and, dare we say, sour is what draws you back again and again.

The One To Try:

Try the fresh stuff with a few drops of balsamic, olive oil, and some fresh tomatoes then never go back to the string cheese stuff again. You can get a ball of mozz here for $10.

1. Sharp Cheddar

The Cheese:

Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest with Tillamook’s much-lauded Extra Sharp Cheddar on the table every holiday season, I totally get this being number one. A sharp cheddar edges towards the crystalline textures of a real Parmigiano-Reggiano while still remaining very creamy.

This cheese really stands out on its own but can make a dish like mac ‘n cheese freaking pop.

The One To Try:

Tillamook’s Extra Sharp Cheddar is aged for 15 months and only costs around $6 per pound. That’s a bargain for a solid cheese with big flavors.

Earlier this year, Nick Cave was one of a number of artists to contribute to AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs Of Marc Bolan And T. Rex, which was put together by the late Hal Willner. The project was released last week, and now Cave has taken to The Late Late Show to perform his contribution, a piano cover of T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer.”

Before sharing his original cover, Cave commended Willner’s “limitless imagination” in a statement, saying, “Hal was our visionary, our ringleader, always working against reason itself, armed with a deep love and bottomless knowledge of music.”

Rachel Fox, a supervising producer for the tribute record and longtime Willner collaborator, also said of the project, “Hal had a unique vision of Marc Bolan’s music, and working on AngelHeaded Hipster brought him great joy. Speaking for those closest to him, we will forever be heartbroken at the untimely loss of our beloved friend and irreplaceable creative engine. Hal, who referred to AngelHeaded Hipster as his White Album, was eager for everyone to hear these beautiful songs and to start thinking about Bolan and T. Rex again. This album is a testament to Hal’s spirit.”

Watch Cave cover “Cosmic Dancer” above.

AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs Of Marc Bolan And T. Rex is out now via BMG. Get it here.

Common sense rules of the road suggest drivers maintain a three-second following distance between themselves and the car ahead of them on a highway. You can calculate this distance by using a fixed object on the road to see if there is enough distance between your car and the motorist in front of you.

As all drivers know, not every one leaves a safe distance between themselves and the car in front of them and this puts both in danger. The tailgater in an especially precarious position because they can’t see what’s happening ahead of them.

The following video posted to Reddit shows what happens when a tailgating driver has no idea what’s happening on the road ahead. The footage is great because the driver of what appears to be a Jeep has a front and back dash cams that show the situation from two angles.

It feels like a lifetime has passed since Super Bowl LIV, with Patrick Mahomes engineering a comeback to lead the Kansas City Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers. On Thursday evening, however, the NFL returns with a jam-packed Week 1 slate and, as always, we are here to deliver winners against the spread.

The 2019 season was quite successful in this space, headlined by a 5-0 mark in the Super Bowl, but we can never rest on our laurels. As a reminder, our principles include underdogs, Unders, and fading the public whenever possible.

Before digging into a five-pack of selections for Week 1, let’s take stock of where we’ve been in the past.

• 2019 Season: 60-48-1
• 2020 Season: TBD

Come get these winners.

Jacksonville Jaguars (+8) over Indianapolis Colts

This is gross, but it’s a great way to dive into the season if you follow our process. Jacksonville is likely the worst team in the league, while the Colts are seen as a favorite to win the AFC South. Beyond that, the Jaguars engaged in a fire sale just weeks before the season, and no one is going to want to bet on this team. In fact, the world is on Indianapolis, and that just fuels our fire. The Colts should win, but this isn’t the kind of juggernaut that should be laying more than a touchdown on the road in Week 1. I know home-field advantage may be reduced, but hold your nose and take the points.

Cleveland Browns (+7.5) over Baltimore Ravens

I’m back, baby. When the Browns were putrid, we bet them way too often. Now that Cleveland is better… we still bet them too often. To be fair, the Browns are no longer the trendy darlings of the preseason, after a disappointing 2019 took the shine away from Baker Mayfield and company. In this case, though, that helps with the line, as the Browns are getting more than a touchdown and very little respect. Baltimore is very good. Lamar Jackson is very good. I get it. Cleveland is still undervalued here, and the public money being on the Ravens certainly doesn’t scare me away.

Atlanta Falcons (+2.5) over Seattle Seahawks

Atlanta was brutal last year. There is no way around that. The Falcons were decimated by defensive injuries and they just didn’t play at the level that this roster is capable of playing. In 2020, expectations are reduced but, as the opener approaches, this looks like an explosive offense and the defense shouldn’t be quite as bad, at least in Week 1. Seattle is the better team on a neutral field, but I can’t get behind the Seahawks entering as road favorites against a reasonable Falcons team. Take the small number with a home underdog, fading the public in the process.

Arizona Cardinals (+7) over San Francisco 49ers

The Super Bowl hangover can be overblown, but the Niners certainly could face it after what transpired back in February. Even when removing that, the Cardinals are seemingly poised for a bit of a leap behind Kyler Murray, and DeAndre Hopkins gives them a No. 1 weapon on the outside. San Francisco is rightly favored here, but Arizona is a trendy sharp sleeper this season for a reason. Make sure you get the full touchdown, but I like the Cardinals.

Denver Broncos (+2.5) over Tennessee Titans

I was all poised to give out a (very) rare favorite in the Detroit Lions, but it’s tough to do that with the line moving to a full field goal. As such, we pivot to the final game of the weekend. It’s unfortunate that Von Miller is injured for the Broncos, taking a bit of steam out of this pick. Still, Denver actually has a home-field advantage at altitude, even if we don’t know all that much about how travel and fan-less experiences will influence games in 2020. From there, Tennessee is something of a regression candidate offensively, and the Broncos suddenly have a very talented group on the offensive side. Drew Lock is a big X-factor on Denver’s long-term outlook but, even if he doesn’t play all that well, the Broncos can cover as small home underdogs.

In terms of its adoption rates, the vinyl record is doing better now than it has in a long time. Discogs recently reported that vinyl has had a huge uptick in sales during the pandemic, outselling all other kinds of physical music on their site. That data only reflects activity on Discogs, though. As for the overall market, vinyl is king once again, for the first time since the ’80s.

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has shared its mid-year report, and while it’s mostly focused on streaming and digital music, there’s data about physical releases, too. It notes that in the first half of 2020, the “United States Estimated Retail Dollar Value” of vinyl LPs and EPs was $231.1 million. That’s well above the $129.9 million that CDs brought in over the same period. As Pitchfork notes, this is the first time vinyl has brought in more money than CDs since the 1980s.

That said, it’s not a total loss for the CD. More CDs were actually sold than vinyl records: 10.6 million units of CDs were shipped versus 8.8 million units of LPs and EPs. Because vinyl records are significantly more expensive than CDs, though, they came out on top financially, accounting for nearly two thirds of physical sales in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, 2020 has brought a significant drop-off for the CD. In the first half of 2019, 18.6 million units of CDs were shipped, meaning that figure dropped by nearly half this year. Vinyl, meanwhile, saw a modest increase, up from the 8.6 million units moved during the first half of last year.

This news shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the RIAA predicted last year that this would happen.

Read the full report here.

Not only were Snoop Dogg and Tupac label mates on Death Row Records, but they were also close friends. Over the years, Snoop has reminisced many times on their relationship, like when they had an on-stage rap battle the first time they met. But their friendship was much more than rap battles. In fact, Tupac was the one who originally convinced Snoop to propose to his now-wife.

In a previous interview with The Breakfast Club, Snoop praised Tupac’s character. He went on to detail how Tupac’s comments led him to ask for his wife’s hand in marriage:

“He was a great person. Not just a rapper, don’t look at the thug in him. The humanitarian work, the songs he wrote for women, the empowerment he gave to Black women, the songs he wrote for mothers. Just the things he did that was out of the box. We only want to highlight the ‘Hit Em Up’ and all the beef he had, but it was things he did that were so real. For example, I was getting into it with my girlfriend at the time. I just kept getting into it. All of the n****s on Death Row Records was like, ‘F*ck that b*tch, n****, you Snoop Dogg. You can have any b*tch you want.’ Then n**** Tupac came to me and said, ‘Man, f*ck they talkin’ ’bout. That girl love you. You need to marry her.’ I listened to what he said and I married my wife and like 20-something years later, we still married. So, it’s like, this is the sh*t that this n**** did that nobody seen. You only seen the ignorant side but he was a real loving, caring, compassionate man. If he loved you, he loved you whole.”

Listen to Snoop tell the story below.

NBA 2K21 has been out for just under a week and much of the talk in the 2K community has been around frustration with the shooting mechanics, which were so difficult they put out a hotfix two days after launch. That has eased the difficulty for those playing in their MyCareer and playing on All-Star difficulty and below, but online gameplay still sees some horrendous shooting numbers as everyone adjusts to the new shot stick and a much more demanding shot bar.

We’ll have more on the online play and other modes later as we continue getting more time with the game in our hands, but here we’re going to review MyCareer mode and this year’s story arc. Much like last year, the MyCareer mode in NBA 2K21 takes you down a far more traditional path to the NBA than some previous versions of the game. You start in high school as the son of a legend in the area, playing your way through a brief high school season before heading off to one of 10 college programs, playing a season there, boosting your draft stock, and entering the NBA Draft.

It’s a far cry from the days of being a DJ-turned-streetballer who gets an invite to play in the NBA. The more traditional path makes for a pretty enjoyable buildup to your NBA career. Beyond that, this year’s career mode seems to feature fewer cut scenes — but have no fear, they’re still there for whoever is really into seeing Jesse Williams play your dad in flashbacks — that are still easy to breeze through, as you are not beholden to watching them and can skip through at your leisure.

The basic gist of your pre-NBA story is this: Your name is Junior, the son of a New Jersey high school legend who switches from football to basketball your senior year in honor of him after he passes away. You help bring your high school back to prominence (and get a minor injury in the process you get to decide whether to play through or not), and eventually pick your college. Beware, though, that if you get too aggressive skipping through cut scenes, you might end up accidentally committing to the school on the top of the list of offers.

You get a love interest this year in college, but it’s actually handled reasonably well and is just a brief sidestory in your college career before she leaves to play soccer for the Canadian international team. Your rival/friend is a kid named Hendrixx Cobb, who the announce team will inform you dubbed himself “The Experience” (get it, cause he’s named for Jimi Hendrixx). He played for your dad in AAU ball and you grew up together before he moved away, and you get to play him in a high school tournament (where he’s the top recruit) and later in college.

Once in the Draft process, you pick between your dad’s old teammate who’s been guiding you (to the chagrin of your high school coach) or a big time agent to represent you. Then you work your way through an interview and a workout before being drafted to the same team as Hendrixx Cobb, who goes No. 1 — I was taken fourth, as somehow the Dallas Mavericks had the first and fourth picks. Once you get to the NBA, things get very streamlined, which is both nice and a bit of a concern for the mode moving forward.

There are no longer lengthy cut scenes where you go meet with your agent to discuss sponsorship deals or this and that, as those have been replaced almost entirely by you just getting an email or text and negotiating a contract that way. To pick up money from your deals, you just walk to the gate at the VC agency and it gives you money, rather than having you go inside to actually talk with your agent. I don’t know if this is the product of them hustling to get the game out or a conscious decision, but it makes things much simpler and far less involved.

The Neighborhood of 2K Beach is, well, just like most other versions, just with the courts out near the beach. It has all the same things you’re used to without any new additions that I could tell — your MyCourt apartment, for example, is the same look inside as it’s been for at least a few years now. Again, I’m not sure any of these are complaints so much as warning signs of a game that has found its groove and might struggle to create something in its career mode going forward that is worthy of what will soon become a $70 price tag for the next-gen consoles.

It’s possible that the Neighborhood will beef up on the next-gen game (there are some areas currently blocked off that might be permanent or might indicate expansion) and this year’s current-gen version serves as kind of a gap year model to get them to the new consoles that provide even greater world-building opportunities. However, it’s hard to see where they go from here with the career mode without just doing the same thing over again, with a slightly different backstory and new actors cast into roles.

Part of the problem is, when they’ve taken big swings on the career mode with a non-traditional path, they’ve gotten buried for it. Whether it was the DJ fiasco with the obnoxious friend or the very strange portrayal of Fort Wayne, Indiana for the G League year, going with something off the wall to spice things up is hard to execute in a way everyone will like.

The high school to college to pros route makes the most sense to the most people and is not likely to get you yelled at on the internet, but it also limits how much you can tweak what you do from year to year without it becoming the same game. Once that happens, you run the risk of falling into the Madden trap of putting out a game that feels like a $60 roster update, and that leads to far more backlash, as EA can tell you right now.

There is so much that goes into making a sports game and there are so many modes now that it’s really hard to invest enough in one to make it excellent without risking something else being neglected. People want a great online experience, a great career mode, a great franchise/GM mode, a great MyTeam mode, and updated gameplay to make it more and more realistic. It’s an impossible challenge, but I think the answer for how they can proceed with the career mode is to simply offer multiple paths.

A choose your own adventure style would allow you to put out a similar story mode in successive years without it feeling stale if you could pick between college, playing overseas to make some money, and going to the new G League prospect team. If each of those offered a different experience, you could make your tweaks to each of those each year and, at minimum, you’d provide alternatives for those that pick up the game every year. It’d certainly take more work on the front end, but once it was built out it could be updated.

Expanding the career world in that way would make for some truly unique experiences that could give the game a different feel rather than a one-size fits all story that requires you to go through your whole career with Greg Anthony explaining how you’re trying to follow in the footsteps of your dad for the eighth time in your rookie season. The insistence on a deep backstory with a cinematic feel, rather than world-building to provide different options and experiences, is in my opinion the game’s biggest consistent misstep in the career mode.

I have no doubts there are stumbling blocks to a choose your own adventure style mode and that it’d probably take more effort, but I really think that’s the only way forward without them running into a problem of offering you the same step-by-step path each year.

I worked as a substitute teacher in my early 20s, almost exclusively in middle schools and high schools—my age of specialty. Once, I accepted a two-day subbing assignment in a first grade classroom. Only once. Halfway through the first day, as the kids ate lunch in the cafeteria, I sat at the teacher’s desk in an exhausted daze. Teaching little kids was a completely different animal than teaching big kids. While adorable, they had so many needs and so little attention span. It was like herding a bunch of flies that constantly needed to go potty.

Trying to herd those flies virtually during a pandemic is too much to even fathom.

So the real-time story that mom and writer Stephanie Lucianovic shared on Twitter of what happened when her son’s second grade teacher dropped from the class Zoom call was not the least bit surprising. Hilariously entertaining, but not surprising.

Lucianovic wrote:

“The 2nd grade teacher’s screen froze. The kids all told her that happened. No one could hear her. And then she disappeared and mass chaos has broken out.

There is screaming and babbling and someone is leaning really close and singing into their microphone and someone else keeps saying, “Who wants to see a diamond? Who wants to see a diamond? Who wants to see a diamond? Who wants to see a diamond?”

Someone is yelling that it’s dinner time (it’s not) and that they’re getting pizza

(I don’t think they’re getting pizza)

Someone is still screaming about seeing a diamond but they have added extra incentive: “MUTE YOURSELVES IF YOU WANT TO SEE A DIAMOND!”

I really want to see what 2nd grader has a diamond, so I muted my 2nd grader.

I’m not being shown the diamond.

Another kid has announced that everyone “NEEDS TO LOOK OUTSIDE AT THE SKY RIGHT NOW!”

I’m unmuting my 2nd grader since there’s clearly no diamond.

2nd grader followed the order to LOOK OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW but in order to help his fellow students also follow the order, he turned his screen around to show them the OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW
and knocked over his entire pencil bucket.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see it happening as it was happening and I screamed at the crash.

Dr M has run down the hall

A 2nd grader parent who also happens to be a teacher at the school is trying to get control of the situation via her kids’ screen

(she can’t because she’s not the host and the kid who somehow became the host when the teacher got booted off isn’t giving up his hosting duties)(he might be off eating pizza)

I’m laughing so hard Dr M thinks I’m crying I might actually be crying

what are discrete emotions

The parent of the kid in the class who is also teacher at the school is trying to tell everyone to leave the meeting and come back in 15 minutes

meanwhile her kid is dancing and leaping behind her as she tries to grab him by the shirt and also remain calm

someone has hit the record button on this session

(we got a very stringent email from the vice p today telling us NOT TO RECORD SESSIONS)

I tried to leave the meeting but my 2nd grader yelled that HE has to be the one to leave the meeting himself because it’s HIS meeting

(he’s getting the vacuum cleaner to clean up the pencil cup mess because the sharpener cracked open and there are shavings everywhere)

Down the hall in their bedroom my 6th grader is having PE and there are crashes and bangs and shakes and Dr M doesn’t know what to do except stand here and wonder if I’ve finally and totally lost it

He closed the front door because there are neighbors outside in the street.

I told him why bother since everyone already knows we are the loud house

Some kid is now trying to convince the kid with hosting duties to “undisable the chat.”

My 2nd grader has finally left the meeting.

There were never any diamonds.

Now 2nd grader has to go to a very loud and energetic music class and I have to go bury my head in some pillows before emailing the teacher-parent and thanking her for her efforts.

I will never forget the image of her kid behind her as she tried to deal with the Zoomchaos.

I haven’t laughed so hard in so long

#ZoomOftheFlies

2nd grader is adding details I missed.

Apparently one of the kids was demanding that the student host make him co-host.

Another kid CHANGED HIS NAME

(emphasis my 2nd grader’s)

“He CHANGED it to …”

2nd grader is pausing for emphasis.

(He’s taking a super long pause to look around at all of us.)

(because he has everyone’s undivided attention for once and he’s making the most of it)

I also think this means the name was changed to something really bad.

“He CHANGED his NAME to BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!”

2nd grader’s hands are now planted on his tiny hips. That’s how offended he is by that chosen name change.

(We have gasped with appropriate drama.)

Now 2nd grader is repeating the whole story to his brother who is transcribing it.

The school day is over. 2nd grader: “The sky looks like CHEETOS!”
6th grader: “DON’T ruin Cheetos for me!”

And … *now* the school day is over. This took off. Please register to vote, think of what’s happening out here on the West Coast w/ wildfires/climate change, please indulge in laughs (it’s hard, I’ve been looking for my laugh for months now, found them today). Also, I write books: Home | Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic Writing the stories children already know in their hearts.http://www.stephanielucianovic.com

You guys have seriously all made my day by how happy this made you. You reminded me why I write.

In retrospect, I’m just impressed no one got nekkid.

And I’m talking about participants in my own household in particular.”

Bless the teachers who are doing their best to teach online, the kids who are doing their best to learn from home, the parents who are doing their best to keep it all together, and everyone who is able to keep their sanity and sense of humor through all of the chaos.

As colleges and universities open back up, it’s time again to remind everyone again about the dangers of drink spiking.

A recent study published by the American Psychological Association found that drink spiking is far from an urban legend. A survey of college students discovered that 83% had “either they had drugged someone, or they knew someone who had drugged another person.”

Being drugged at a bar or party can result in being robbed, rapped or murdered.

While most of the research surrounding drink spiking surrounds women on college campuses, it’s something that people everywhere should be be warned about. In fact, over one in five spiking victims are men.

A recent trend on TikTok has brought the issue to the forefront with young people. It all started when TikTokker @enoughliv shared a video set to Kendrick Lamar’s song “Money Trees” where she showed how she holds her friends’ drinks at a party.

TikTokker @soloosteph shared a video explaining how quickly she was incapacitated by a drug slipped in her drink.

The trend inspired Mel Hall to create a video showing just how easy it is to sneak a pill in someone’s drink using popcorn kernels. Hall cleverly showed how with barely any practice she masted the slight of hand necessary to drug someone without being caught.

“I decided the best way to respond and explain the risk was with a video. I thought a visual would be more impactful,” Hall told Yahoo News Australia.

“So, I searched my kitchen for something pill-sized (popcorn kernels) and got to work. I read the comment, made the video, and posted it all within about 15 or 20 minutes,” she added.

Hall believes that one of the most effective ways to make sure you stay safe is to have plenty of “allies” at a party or bar to watch your drink and make sure you’re felling ok.

“The reality is that, if someone does manage to spike your drink, your awareness has been taken away from you,” she said.

“You’re now relying on the people around you to recognize that something is wrong and to help. That’s why it’s important that we’re looking out for others as much as ourselves,” she continued. “So, if your friend is acting weird or if you see something suspicious across the bar, check-in with them.”

Hall also created a video about how a bar coaster can be a life-saver when you go out.

The trend also inspired women to make videos showing how they can be allies to one another by taking good care of their friends’ drinks.

North Carolina rapper 10Cellphones drops by the UPROXX office for an exuberant performance of his bone-bruising track “Lean,” which dropped last year and became his calling card, accumulating a half million views on YouTube with no promotion. The beat is built around a muscular piano loop and a titanic bass drop, over which 10C spits an exorbitant array of gun-related threats.

The short track works as an attention-grabbing introduction to the burgeoning SoundCloud favorite, as he prepares the follow-up to his self-released 2019 full-length 10. He’s remained active on YouTube, dropping the self-shot videos for tracks like “Stick Up,” “Air Bender,” “Take Risks,” and “Scared Of Me,” all within just the last month. He appears to be making the most of his quarantine, showing off a DIY hustle that could very well help him make the jump from the underground to the mainstream.

Watch 10Cellphones’ “Lean” performance for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too..