Category: Worldwide

It is pretty wild to consider that Millennials are now entering their 40s and no longer hold the mantle of the young and up-and-coming generation. According to Pew Research, Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996, so these days they range between the ages of 29 and 42.

These are the years when people begin to settle down, start families and experience the first uncomfortable signs of aging.

The Holderness Family is headed by a Gen X couple, Kim and Penn Holderness, who are best known for their viral comedy songs. Their latest video is about welcoming Millennials to their next phase in life, one that’s less about spending all night in the club and more about embracing a quieter, more practical life.

In this case, “the club” isn’t a loud place to get a Long Island iced tea but a state of mind where you’re more likely to appreciate a good walk for your mental health.

Holderness Family Music has over 797,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 230 million views since they started their page in 2011. They “create original music, song parodies, and skits to poke fun of ourselves, the world we live in, and (hopefully) make you laugh.”

The “Welcome to the Club, Millennials” video is a bit of a departure from the usual intergenerational bickering we’re accustomed to seeing on social media. Instead, Gen Xers open their doors to the Millennials entering the next phase in their lives. “Well, Gen X is here to say ‘don’t be bummed, come on in, welcome to the club,’” Penn raps.

According to the song, if you’re a Millennial and have done any of the following, you’re officially in “the club,” whether you know it or not:

​Hung a calendar on your fridge

Have strong opinions on who’s the best “Jeopardy!” host

Play Wordle

Wore reader glasses

Drink seltzers

Had Gen Z call your clothes “vintage”

Gone Christmas shopping in October

Had a three-day hangover

Gone to a movie theater because it serves food

Took a mental health walks

Bought a chair for your back

Grooved to supermarket music

Own plastic houseplants

Taken supplements

Saved money for a Disney vacation

Have zero f**cks to give

Still love Blink-182

Millennials who are a little leery of aging should be happy to learn that they may be in the happiest times of their lives. According to developmental psychologists, the period of life between ages 30 to 45 is known as “established adulthood” and is a time of life when people are happiest.

Even though people in this age group are stuck in the “career and care crunch,” where they are likely to juggle a job while caring for children or older relatives, this developmental stage is also very fulfilling.

“Yes, people were feeling overwhelmed and talked about having too much to do in too little time,” Clare Mehta, Professor of Psychology at Emmanuel College, wrote in The Conversation. “But they also talked about feeling profoundly satisfied. All of these things that were bringing them stress were also bringing them joy.”

This article originally appeared on 5.01.23

The internet is the place you can find people debating over just about any topic imaginable. Typically the debates slow down or go away when an expert comes out and says, “well actually.” But there’s one argument that refuses to simply go by the wayside and it rears its head every time someone dares to share a cooking video online that involves meat.

It seems inevitable that no matter what the layman chef does, its the wrong answer. The person washes their meat with some sort of vinegar concoction and people tell them they’re spreading germs. The person doesn’t wash their meat and people comment that they’re gross and should totally wash their chicken or whatever before cooking it.

These comments almost always turn into long comment threads over if people should or shouldn’t wash their meat before cooking it. This debate can get pretty heated but what is the right answer?

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “washing or rinsing meat or poultry increases the risk for cross-contamination in the kitchen, which can cause foodborne illness.”

They go on to explain that washing or rinsing meat products before cooking them can cause bacteria to be splashed on surfaces in the kitchen. Instead, the USDA says cooking the food to the correct temperature is the best way to kill germs and bacteria that can be found on or in the meat.

It is also never advised to use actual cleaning products on your chicken, steak, veal or any other meat, though some have admitted to doing just that. But this type of cleaning meat seems to be the outlier as most people who wash their meat products use food safe items like water, vinegar or some sort of citrus.

One chef describes how his mom used to wash her’s below:

@brandongonezshow

Are you team #wash your #meat or do you trust the experts who say, technically, it’s not necessary? 🤔 Link in bio for the full video!

Commenters were of course split when it came to his admission to not washing meat before cooking.

“Not eating his food,” one person writes.

“I’m sorry but you can clearly taste the difference between washed and unwashed meat,” another says.

“Restaurants don’t wash the meat,” someone points out.

Other videos show elaborate washing of poultry, with one person scrubbing the chicken with cut limes. One man made a video of him washing his chicken after being called out for not doing it previously, so naturally there were comments telling him that he should never wash chicken. It seems he is in a no win situation just like everyone else who dares to cook something on the internet.

See his chicken washing set up below:

@cheftimclowers

Replying to @denomarleyg6 now I am doing this for you. I am washing my chicken. Its a lretty simple process. A little lemon juice, vinegar, and water. Rinse off all what is called the slim and then drain it and pat it dry. #chicken #bbq #smokedmeat #howto #clean

“Please don’t wash/rinse poultry! It will spread bacteria to the surfaces surrounding the sink and increase the chances of cross contamination,” someone pleads.

“Completely unnecessary but people just LOVE to criticize!! Your videos are awesome keep up the good work,” another says.

“Mannnnnn thank you for washing that chicken,” a commenter praises.

There’s no winning in this debate but if we’re going with the experts, Mayo Clinic’s clinical dietician Anya Hill says, “Some people think they are supposed to wash their meats and chicken before cooking. I recommend not washing them because that puts you at risk for spreading the bacteria around your kitchen and around yourself.”

So if there’s any confusion on if you should or shouldn’t wash your meat before cooking it, it’s completely unnecessary unless of course it fell on the floor. In that case, it’s probably a good idea to give it a rinse, especially in this economy.

Optical illusions are wild. The way our brains perceive what our eyes see can be way off base, even when we’re sure about what we’re seeing.

Plenty of famous optical illusions have been created purposefully, from the Ames window that appears to be moving back and forth when it’s actually rotating 360 degrees to the spiral image that makes Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” look like it’s moving.

But sometimes optical illusions happen by accident. Those ones are even more fun because we know they aren’t a result of someone trying to trick our brains. Our brains do the tricking all by themselves.

The popular Massimo account on X shared a photo that appears to be a person and two dogs in the snow. The more you look at it, the more you see just that—two dogs and someone who is presumably their owner.

But there are not two dogs in this picture:

This is how optical illusions mess with your mind. nnFirst you see two dogs and their owner, and then…

— (@)

There are three dogs in this picture. Can you see the third?

Full confession time: I didn’t see it at first. Not even when someone explained that the “human” is actually a dog. My brain couldn’t see anything but a person with two legs, dressed all in black, with a furry hat and some kind of furry stole or jacket. My brain definitely did not see a black poodle, which is what the person actually is.

Are you looking at the photo and trying to see it, totally frustrated?

The big hint is that the poodle is looking toward the camera. The “hat” on the “person” is the poodle’s poofy tail, and the “scarf/stole” is the poodle’s head.

Once you see it, it fairly clear, but for many of us, our brains did not process it until it was explicitly drawn out.

@Rainmaker1973 That one took me AGES to see. nOwner is is a 3rd dog closer to the camera. The black fur hides the contours.

— (@)

As one person explained, the black fur hides the contours and shadows, so all our brains take in is the outline, which looks very much like a person facing away from us.

People’s reactions to the optical illusion were hilarious.

One person wrote, “10 years later: I still see two dogs and a man.”

10 years later:
I still see two dogs and a man

— Farhad (@farhadge) January 8, 2024

Another person wrote, “I agree with ChatGPT :)” and shared a screenshot of the infamous AI chatbot describing the photo as having a person in the foreground. Even when asked, “Could the ‘person’ be another dog?” ChatGPT said it’s possible, but not likely. Ha.

@Rainmaker1973 I agree with ChatGPT 🙂

— (@)

One reason we love optical illusions is that they remind us just how very human we are. Unlike a machine that takes in and spits out data, our brains perceive and interpret what our senses bring in—a quality that has helped us through our evolution. But the way our brains piece things together isn’t perfect. Even ChatGPT’s response is merely a reflection of our human imperfections at perception being mirrored back at us.

Sure is fun to play with how our brains work, though.

This article originally appeared on 1.8.24

The phrase “dog is a man’s best friend” takes on a whole new meaning in a hero dog story coming out of the Pacific Northwest.

On the afternoon of June 2, 2024, Brandon Garrett was driving on a forest service road in Baker County, Oregon, when he lost control of his truck on a curve and tumbled down the steep embankment into a ravine. The 62-year-old was traveling with his four dogs to a camp nearly four miles from the scene of the accident.

One of those dogs, Blue, ran away from the crash site and headed to the familiar campsite where Garrett was scheduled to meet a friend that afternoon. When Garrett was late and then Blue showed up alone, with glass in his snout, the friend Garrett was supposed to meet knew something wasn’t right.

Garrett’s friends and family searched for him through the night and finally spotted his truck in the ravine in the morning. The steep, unstable terrain, however, made it impossible for them to reach the truck without rappelling gear.

Garrett’s brother, Tyree Garrett, told the New York Times that he could see Garrett’s injured dogs near the truck. He called out his brother’s name but got no response. “It stopped my heart,” he said. “I just, God darn, thought for sure my brother was gone.”

Tyree drove to where he could get a cell signal and called for help. First responders from the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, Baker County Search and Rescue, Pine Valley Rural Fire District and Halfway Ambulance all responded to the scene. Sheriff Travis Ash located the truck and one of Garrett’s dogs in the ravine, but as he searched for a way down the embankment to access the creek, he heard a man’s voice yelling for help.

Garrett had crawled about 100 yards from the vehicle, where he spent the night in the cold and pouring rain. Sheriff Ash made his way down the steep, brushy slope to where Garrett lay and began to administer first aid. Meanwhile, Pine Valley Rural Fire volunteers and U.S. Forest Service employees used chainsaws to clear a path for the rescue team.

Getting Garrett to safety and the medical care he needed was no easy feat due to the treacherous landscape and where he was located. Using the cleared path, the team was able to get a rescue basket to Garrett, and the Baker County Search and Rescue Ropes Team set up a highline rope system to transport him across the ravine after he was secured in it.

Once he was safely across, Garrett was transported by ambulance to a Life Flight helicopter and then airlifted to a regional hospital.

“This was an incredibly technical rescue performed by Baker County Search and Rescue utilizing a highline rope system. BCSO was also grateful for Pine Valley Rural Fire Protection District, Halfway Ambulance, Life Flight and the U.S. Forest Service employees that provided assistance during the rescue,” Baker County Sheriff’s Office tells Upworthy. “This was truly a team effort!”

The sheriff’s office also reports that Garrett has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home. According to the New York Times, Garrett had injured his ankle and his body was badly battered and bruised. All of the dogs survived the crash, one with a broken hip and an injured femur and another with leg broken in two spots.

But thanks to good boy Blue’s memory and his making sure someone knew they needed help, everyone appears to be on the mend.

Find more images of the rescue on the Baker County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

It looks like J. Cole is done lying low in the aftermath of his aborted battle with Kendrick Lamar. After dropping the Kendrick-dissing track “7 Minute Drill,” having regrets about the song’s lukewarm reception, removing the song from streaming services, and seemingly going on vacation to let the dust settle, he returned in earnest with a new video for his Might Delete Later track, “Trae The Truth In Ibiza.”

The “Trae The Truth In Ibiza” video follows the lo-fi approach of the rest of the album’s rollout, incorporating camcorder footage of the two rappers on tour together in the titular Spanish isle. In much of the footage, we see a baby-faced J. Cole from early in his career as the dreadlocked, nearly 40-year-old version reflects on how far he’s come in the pursuit of his rap dreams.

Although J. Cole appeared reluctant to publicly promote himself in the aftermath of the Kendrick kerfuffle, a few of the artists for whom he’d previously recorded verses did drop their new songs featuring him. Future and Metro Boomin had previously secured a Cole feature on their second joint album called “Red Leather,” which dropped just as he was pondering withdrawing “7 Minute Drill” and just before that song debuted at No.6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then, New York rising star Cash Cobain dropped “Grippy” with an experimental J. Cole verse that some fans weren’t feeling in light of the preceding month. Finally, Tems featured Cole on her debut album Born In The World on the song “Free Fall.” So, Cole hasn’t been completely invisible lately, but this is the first thing he’s released of his own accord — perhaps this means he’s ready to emerge and finally start working in earnest on releasing his long-waited album, The Fall Off.

Watch J. Cole’s “Trae The Truth In Ibiza” video above.

Might Delete Later is out now via Cole World Inc./Interscope Records.

Mare Of Easttown rolled out as a slow burn of a crime drama with fascinatingly grumpy characters that led to ratings success for HBO and the most heavily-streamed finale ever for then-HBO Max. Who doesn’t love a canned-cheese guzzling dogged detective who is too busy to care about her hair?

The show was intended to be a limited series, but as viewers know, that isn’t a term that’s set in stone (see the similarly-toned Big Little Lies), and now, there’s an update, three years after Winslet’s The Regime didn’t make waves, so some Mare Sheehan magic would be welcome. According to Variety, here’s where that issue stands:

Speaking to Variety for our new cover story on Kate Winslet, HBO’s head of drama Francesca Orsi said that after the 2021 Emmys, “we did run to have discussions about a Season 2. But it did feel too soon.” Now, though, “while there’s nothing in the works, we are having early discussions about whether it might be time to start thinking of building something. We might be willing to figure out with Mare, years later, picking her up — not on the heels of where she ended, but there have been years for the character that have passed. Who is she now?”

Previously, Kate Winslet didn’t sound too eager to dive back into the show’s dark material, which she called “frighteningly hard” to endure while filming. Still, the Titanic, Avatar 2, and Jude star made sure to declare how fond she was of the Mare character while speaking with Happy Sad Confused podcast, but the murderous subject matter did make Winslet “realize, ‘Oh my god, if I go to work now, it really hurts,’ and I have to look after myself. I have a family. I can’t just do that.”

Yet maybe it would be easier for Winslet to slip Mare’s boots on again than holding her breath for an ungodly amount of time for James Cameron. Fingers crossed that Winslet comes around and decides to let her hair be messy on TV again.

(Via Variety)

The punk-heavy Riot Fest has a new home in Illinois (from Chicago’s Douglas Park to Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadium) but the same ol’ kickass lineup.

The headliners for the 2024 edition of the festival, which goes down from September 20-22, 2024, include Fall Out Boy, Beck, Pavement, Slayer, The Offspring performing their 1994 album Smash in full, Public Enemy, and Dr. Dog. Other highlights include Taking Back Sunday, Spoon, Manchester Orchestra, Something Corporate, Tierra Whack, Hot Mulligan, State Champs, Buzzcocks, The Dickies, and three shows from retiring punks NOFX.

Some of the most exciting (and younger) acts can be found near the bottom of the lineup poster, such as Gel, The Armed, Drug Church, Fiddlehead, Sir Chloe, Spiritual Cramp, and Slaughter Beach, Dog.

“Riot Fest will be leaving Douglass Park. And — allow me to be as clear as the azure sky of the deepest summer — our exodus is solely because of the Chicago Park District,” festival co-founder Mike Petryshyn explained about the venue change. “Their lack of care for the community, you, and us, ultimately left us no choice.” He added, “Though our curtains may have closed in Douglass Park, another one has opened. It’s called RiotLand. It’s something like you’ve never seen before. And it’s far overdue.”

You can see the full Riot Fest 2024 lineup below:

Action/Adventure
ALL
Basement
Beach Bunny
Beck
Bright Eyes
Brutus
Buzzcocks
Circle Jerks
Clutch
Cobra Skulls
Codefendants
Cursive
Cypress Hill
D.O.A.
Descendents
Dillinger Four
Doom Scroll
Dr. Dog
Drug Church
Face To Face
Fall Out Boy
Fiddlehead
Games We Play
GEL
Get Dead
GWAR
HEALTH
Heart Attack Man
Home Front
Hot Mulligan
Huge Euge
Jack Kays
Jhariah
L.S.Dunes
Lagwagon
Lamb Of God
Laura Jane Grace + Catbite
Liquid Mike
Lord of the Lost
Loveless
Manchester Orchestra
Mastodon
Nekrogoblikon
New Found Glory
NOFX
Oliver Tree
Pavement
Pennywise
Pixel Grip
Poison The Well
Polaris
Princess Goes
Public Enemy
Rival Sons
Rob Zombie
Saxsquatch
Sincere Engineer
Sir Chloe
Slaughter Beach, Dog
Slayer
Something Corporate
Souls of Mischief
Spiritual Cramp
Spoon
SPRINTS
St. Vincent
State Champs
Strung Out
Sublime
Suicidal Tendencies
Sum 41
Sunami
Sweet Pill
Swingin’ Utters
Taking Back Sunday
The Aces
The Armed
The Chisel
The Dead Milkmen
The Defiant
The Dickies
The Exploited
The Hives
The Lawrence Arms
The Marleys (Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Ky-Mani and Damian)
The Mysterines
The Offspring
The Vandals
The Warning
Tierra Whack
Tornillo
Urethane
Verböten
Waxahatchee
Winona Fighter
Zheani

Two-day and three-day passes for Riot Fest 2024 can be purchased on the festival’s website.

Disney has been leaning into its raunchier content lately, but nothing is quite as shocking as a blood-soaked bathroom filled with rusted materials intended to hurt you.

Despite what you might have been led to believe, Saw is a horror movie, not a heartwarming family feature. It’s hard to understand, especially considering how friendly Billy the puppet is, but those films are, in fact, not for children. But who says everything on Disney+ has to be for kids?!

In a slightly confusing move, the first seven installments of the Saw franchise have landed on Disney+’s Hulu bundle. So next time you want to pair Saw III with your nightly rewatch of Bluey, Hulu makes it easy! The collection includes Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D, aka Saw: The Final Chapter. After you’ve watched all of those kills, Jigsaw, Spiral and Saw X are available to stream through Hulu with its Starz add-on.

Of course, having the serial killing puppet on Mickey’s home streaming network is a little off-putting to some, who were confused but entertained by the idea of Billy the Puppet becoming a Disney princess.

It’s only a matter of time before they replace the ads with this:

You can also stream classic Disney horror on Hulu like Don’t Look Under The Bed and Can Of Worms, if you’re into the real scary stuff.

Metallica is entering the digital universe. Today (June 12) Metallica has revealed that they are taking center stage within the world of Fortnite as part of the fourth season of Fortnite Festival.

They will make history as the first band to play in all of the Fortnite experiences — including Fortnite Festival, Battle Royale, LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and more. Beginning tomorrow (June 13), Fortnite will introduce special Metallica-themed gameplay.

Additionally, Fortnite players will get a chance to see the band live in a series of concerts in the game’s universe. The series, Metallica: Fuel. Fire. Fury., will run through six of Metallica’s signature songs through gameplay that replicates the energy of a live Metallica show.

The concerts will take place over the course of two days — Saturday, June 22 at 2 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. ET, 11 p.m. ET; and Sunday, June 23 at 10 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. ET, and 5 p.m. ET. These will be the only times to experience the concert live.

During the concerts, fans will have the opportunity to play along with Metallica.

The new season of Fortnite Festival will also introduce Battle Stage, which will see 16 players in a match. The players will play music from the same setlist, with one eventually emerging as the victor.

You can see the Fortnite Festival trailer above.

Your excitement for Stranger Things season 5 is nothing compared to what the cast must be feeling. Once the premiere date is revealed, they’ll never have to answer questions like “when does the new season come out?” or “what happens in the last scene?” ever again. Until then, however, they’ll have to continue to be vague about the final season of the Netflix hit.

The latest interview comes from star Maya Hawke, who spoke to Entertainment Tonight about the “heartbreaking” season at the premiere of Inside Out 2 (she voices Anxiety in the Pixar sequel).

“It’s already starting to be heartbreaking,” the actress admitted. “I mean it’s the end of a really long journey. Longer for some of my castmates, even, than me. So it’s really sentimental.” Hawke continued, “But as a late addition cast member, I feel like it’s my job to be here to facilitate their feelings and just be grateful and excited to have been a part of it at all.”

Hawke joined Stranger Things in season 3, and her character, Robin, and Steve (played by Joe Keery) quickly became the show’s best duo.

“We shoot for a long time,” the actress and singer said about filming the show, “so it’s kind of reinvigorating [to bring] the joy and finding it everyday and making it new. It’s a really fun thing to do.”

Stranger Things season 5 will premiere in 2025.

(Via Entertainment Tonight)