Month: July 2021

We’re willing to bet that the ten best-selling Scotch whisky brands in the world will surprise you. Hell, a lot of these brands surprised us (except for number one, but more on that later). When you look at the actual numbers of cases of alcohol sold globally, many seemingly popular (and unarguably beloved) Scotch whisky brands don’t even register in the top 150, much less crack the top ten scotch whiskies sold.

Though single malts dominate the awards circuit and conversation among aficionados, not one single malt brand breaks into the top ten best-selling scotches. The top-selling single malt is Glenfiddich, which would have ranked 19th on this list (and ranks 133rd overall among spirits sold). The fact of the matter? When it comes to cases produced and purchased, blended Scotch whisky reigns supreme.

For clarity, this list of the top ten best-selling Scotch whisky brands comes from The Spirits Business‘ annual report of cases sold globally in 2020. When they say “brand,” they mean a specific brand from a company that likely has dozens of whisky distilleries/shingles/brands in their portfolio. Some brands make multiple expressions; others just make one — making this number interesting but certainly not a 1:1 representation of the most purchased bottles on earth.

To go a little deeper than just listing each brand and their sales numbers, we’re also calling out the one expression from that brand we think is most worth trying — though not all of them are and we’ll point out which ones to flat out skip. If any of these bottles interest you, make sure to click on the prices to give them a shot. You never know, you might find a new favorite.

10. J&B (2.3 million cases) — J&B Rare

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $32

The Whisky:

J&B is a back bar mainstay. This old-school blend became hugely popular in the U.S. after Prohibition and still sits on most American bar shelves to this day, though often just collecting dust. The juice is a mix of 42 single grains and single malts that lean heavily into Speyside whiskies.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is malty with a flourish of orange zest next to cedar bark and sweet, buttery toffee. That sweetness carries and folds in fatty nuts and a bit of red fruit. The oak and spice kick in late as the sip fades fairly quickly while warming you up.

Bottom Line:

Your mind might play a trick on you as this can actually taste dusty sometimes. That being said, this is perfectly fine scotch if you’re looking for a mixer or highball candidate or something to bury in a big bowl of summer punch.

9. Dewar’s (2.6 million cases) — Dewar’s 18

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $76

The Whisky:

The heart of Dewar’s is Aberfeldy whisky. This blend is a testament to Master Blender Stephanie MacLeod’s prowess in bringing good whisky together to make great whisky. The juices are aged for 18 long years in American oak before they’re vatted into a large oak tun and allowed to rest before proofing and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

There’s that signature Aberfeldy honey on the nose with hints of almonds, stone fruits, and red berries. The palate dials all of this in with a marzipan vibe next to more honey, bruised apricot skins, and dark chocolate-covered red berries. The end is soft, silky, and brings a final bite of sweet oak with a slight tobacco chew.

Bottom Line:

This is a truly masterful blend from a classic blending house. This whisky serves as a great neat or on the rocks pour that isn’t overly expensive. It’s also fairly findable in the U.S., both at bars and liquor stores.

8. Label 5 (2.6 million cases) — Label 5 12 Year

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $32

The Whisky:

Label 5 is a bottle of simple whisky you’ll find mostly around continental Europe. It’s a rail bottle (cheap shots, mixer, etc.), so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the best selling in the world. The actual juice focuses on Speyside grain and malt whiskies, each around three years old.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is slightly bourbon-esque with vanilla, spice, and toffee sweetness. The palate is full of very sweet caramel apples with a citrus twist. The citrus helps usher in the quick end with a touch of alcohol warmth.

Bottom Line:

This is a middle-of-the-road mixing whisky in Europe that costs about $15 at retail. I wouldn’t even bother looking for it in the U.S.

7. William Peel (2.8 million cases) — William Peel Finest Old Blended Scotch Whisky

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $12

The Whisky:

This is another whisky that’s really popular behind bars in Western Europe, especially France. The whisky is a blend of 18 single grain and single malts.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a typical balance of sweet apple candy with a hint of caramel next to warm and slightly dry malts. The sip is short, sweet, malty, and will leave you with a mild metallic note at the end.

Bottom Line:

This is, again, a bar mixer you’re only going to see in dive bars in France, Germany, Belgium, and a few other spots around Western Europe. Again, don’t bother even looking for this in the U.S. There are tons of perfectly good bottles of blended scotch already on your corner liquor store shelves.

6. Black & White (2.9 million cases) — Black & White Blended Scotch Whisky

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $22

The Whisky:

Good ol’ Black & White. This used to be Dean “The King of Cool” Martin’s go-to whiskey — so there’s a bit of panache that still goes with drinking this stuff. The black and white dogs on the label have become damn near synonymous with whisky in the U.K. to this day. The juice leans into Speyside grain whisky more than malt and is pretty damn dialed in.

Tasting Notes:

The bready grains come through with a note of lemon curd and a wisp of smoke. The lemon carries on and is married with a Christmas cake spice and caramel sweetness in the body of the sip. The end is short and sweet both literally and figuratively.

Bottom Line:

While this is a throwback, it does have its charms. It’s super easy drinking, has two cute dogs on the label (our hearts aren’t made of stone), and, while it feels like it’s from a different era, it’s still a solid sipper in a highball.

5. Chivas Regal (3.2 million cases) — Chivas Regal 18

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $83

The Whisky:

Chivas 18 is the brand’s signature high-end blend. The juice is built around a specially made Strathisla 18 single malt. That juice is supported by 20 other single malts from around Scotland with various casking processes.

Tasting Notes:

Imagine a bar of bespoke dark chocolate from a really fancy-schmancy shop that’s been bespeckled with dried berries — blackberry, blueberry, raspberry — on the nose, plus a rich and very buttery toffee that draws you in closer. The palate holds onto that chocolate bar while adding in dry rose pedals with a slight singe, creating a whisper of sweet and fragrant smoke. The end builds on that floral and bitter chocolate note as it very slowly fades away while warming your soul.

Bottom Line:

You should already have a bottle of this on your bar cart. This is an excellent whisky that’s blended to really shine on the rocks inside of your favorite whisky glass.

4. William Lawson’s (3.3 million cases) — William Lawson’s Blended Scotch Whisky

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $10

The Whisky:

This scotch is hugely popular in the Central and South American markets. Bacardi has especially been pushing the stuff in Mexico for years now and it’s clearly paying off.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a fair amount of caramel on the nose with old wood and malty burn. The palate stays surprisingly soft as vanilla and caramel blend with a mild yet tart apple note. The end is short and sweetish with that apple and wood lasting the longest but leaving you with a mild malty burn.

Bottom Line:

I got my hands on a flask of this recently and was… mildly surprised. Not wowed, mind you, but it’s fine for what it is. It’ll burn going down but there is something at least under that burn. Still, there’s no real point in seeking this out in the U.S.

3. Grant’s (3.6 million cases) — Grant’s Triple Wood

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $21

The Whisky:

Willam Grant & Sons has a deep bench of whisky distilleries to draw their malts and grains from for this expression. The ripple with this blend is the triple barreling with new oak, American oak, and re-fill American oak, hence the name.

Tasting Notes:

This is tinny yet soft. There’s a mild tobacco spice that’s cut by an apple-esque bridge between tart and sweet. The end builds with a green woodiness that helps keep the sip very easy and, again, soft. It’s super simple and straightforward to sip.

Bottom Line:

This always surprises me. It’s just a really solid workhorse scotch. There are no bells or whistles but it doesn’t need them. The flavor notes really shine in a highball or cocktail. And this is a fine (and cheap) on the rocks contender that you should be able to get at any liquor store.

2. Ballentine’s (7 million cases) — Ballantine’s Aged 17 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $105

The Whisky:

Ballentine’s is another old-school brand. The difference is that Ballentine’s is in the process of reinventing its line with great older expressions to compete with the Chivas, Dewar’s, and Walkers of the world. Case in point, their 17-year expression is a blend of single malt and grain whiskies that have aged at least 17 years before they’re folded into this blend. The results are an award-winning sipper worthy of your bar cart.

Tasting Notes:

There’s this note of smoke on the nose that feels like the inside of a vanilla-forward bourbon barrel that’s been warmed up next to a fire. The palate holds onto the vanilla and wood and then veers into a full-on honey/orchard fruit/spice vibe that ends up with a hint of anise or maybe black licorice (depending on how many drops of water you add). The light touch of dark spice holds on as the sip slowly fades through the fruit and honey towards a final, woody, and warm malty note.

Bottom Line:

This is just really easy to drink. It’s deep without being too complex. It’s easy to sip neat but shines brightly on the rocks. It also makes a mean cocktail.

1. Johnnie Walker (14.1 million cases) — Johnnie Walker Green Label

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $66

The Whisky:

The blend is a “pure malt” blended whisky, meaning that it’s made only with single malts (usually blended scotch is made with both grain and malt whisky). In this case, the juice is pulled from all over Scotland with a focus on Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Island malts, including a minimum of 15-year-old Talisker, Caol Ila, Cragganmore, and Linkwood.

Tasting Notes:

This sip draws you in with the smells of an old, soft cedar box that’s held black pepper, sweet fruits, and oily vanilla pods next to a hint of green grass. The taste really holds onto the cedar as the fruits lean tropical with a hint of dried roses pinging in the background. The end builds on that by adding a note of spicy tobacco, a splash of sea spray, and a distant billow of campfire smoke.

Bottom Line:

Johnnie Walker is the fifth best-selling whisky on the planet (the top four are all from India). Those sales also make it the best-selling scotch whisky globally. It’s not hard to see why, this whisky is everywhere booze is legally sold. That also means there’s a lot of it out there. It’s 100 percent worth going beyond the Red and Black Label versions. Red is made for mixing specifically. Black is made for on the rocks and highballs.

This, on the other hand, is made to be savored, sipped, and loved. Johnnie Walker Green is a masterpiece when it comes to blending already iconic single malts. This remains our favorite Johnnie Walker and one of our most recommended Scotch whiskies on the market.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Sydney rockers Gang Of Youths have surprise-released a brand-new EP today called Total Serene. The drop follows the band’s just-released single “The Angel Of 8th Ave.,” which came out last month.

As for Total Serene, the EP follows 2017’s Go Farther In Lightness and features three tracks, including “The Angel Of 8th Ave.” Also on the EP is a cover of Elbow’s classic “Asleep In The Back,” which was the title track to the Manchester indie-rock torchbearers’ 2001 LP of the same name.

“‘Unison’ is a deeply important track for us that really signals where the music is headed on the new record,” lead vocalist David Le’aupepe said of the EP closer in a press release. “I conceived the song in Samoa, my ancestral homeland. Here we sample and introduce the work of David Fanshawe, who travelled to the Pacific Islands in the 1980s and recorded the most extensive library of indigenous Pacific music anywhere in the world.”

Le’aupepe also expanded on the Elbow cover, saying, “We love Elbow and we thought it was thematically relevant. It couldn’t have been anything other than ‘Asleep In The Back.’”

Listen to Total Serene below.

Gang Of Youths is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music.

This article originally appeared on 03.01.19

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has been covered dozens of different ways. But you’ve never seen it performed like this.

As one of the most iconic songs in rock music, Bohemian Rhapsody is recognizable no matter how it’s done. As children, my brother and I used to belt out Galileos and Figaros in the backseat of our parents’ Volkswagon whenever the song came on (yes, just like in Wayne’s World). While other kids learned about Beelzebub in Sunday School, I learned about him from Queen’s perfect harmonies. If there were an anthem from my classic rock-filled childhood, it would be Bohemian Rhapsody.

It’s one of those songs that is hard to cover well, though it hasn’t stopped people from trying. I’ve enjoyed some renditions, but nothing has caught my attention or delight more than this kapa haka version from New Zealand.

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A Māori choir in native garb sang the song live in the Māori language, and it is something to see.

The group Hātea Kapa Haka performed the song on February 21 at New Zealand’s national kapa haka festival, Te Matatini, in Wellington. The festival brings 46 kapa haka (Māori performing arts) groups together to compete against one another.

Newshub reports that Hātea Kapa Haka collaborated with musical artist William Waiirua to create a “Bohemian Rhapsody” cover in the Māori language, both as a tribute to Freddie Mercury and to celebrate the Oscar-nominated movie about his life.

The group had previously created a music video for their cover, but seeing it performed live is something else. The voices, the harmony, the presentation—everything—is wonderful.

This kind of cultural mashup reminds us how small our world has become.

The contrast between Queen’s 1970s British rock and the Māori people’s traditional kapa haka could not be more striking. And yet, the melding of the two totally works. Music has the power to bring people together, and this performance is a great example of how it can bridge cultures with beautiful results.

Watch the live performance here:

And if you want more, check out the music video too:

This article originally appeared on 02.02.19

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” ― Robert Hughes

Great artists tend to live life swimming in a vast ocean of self-doubt. It’s that special blend of insecurity and perfectionism that fuels their desire to hone their craft and get better with each piece.

But that self-doubt can also be paralyzing and prevent potential artists from picking up the pen, paintbrush or guitar.

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To encourage his mother to stick with her art, Reddit user Gaddafo shared a picture of his mother, Cindi Decker, a school teacher from Florida, holding a lovely painting she made of an egret.

“My mom painted this and said no one would like it. It’s her 2nd painting,” he wrote.

Then Reddit user Cacahahadoodoo asked the forum to take the post a step further. “Someone paint the photo of his mom holding her painting and repost it with the same title for extra extra karma,” they wrote.

Karma is a reward earned for posting popular content on the online forum.

Reddit user u/k__z jumped on the task and painted a picture of Decker holding her painting.

Then lillyofthenight took things a step further by painting a picture of herself holding a painting of u/k__z holding his painting of Decker holding her painting of an egret.

“Took a while and not perfect, but I painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom,” she wrote.

Then seamusywray stepped in with his contribution and things started to get freaky. “I painted the girl who painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom who painted an egret,” he wrote.

This kicked off a chain reaction that’s come to be known “paintception.”

To keep things from getting too confusing, another Redditor created an interactive tree to show how they paintings relate to one another.

Decker was shocked by the chain reaction and couldn’t believe she inspired so many people to paint.

“Even though people say, ‘You inspired me to paint,’ I don’t know that it was so much me. I really give credit to the first artist who painted,” she told the CBC. “You know, I’m not a painter. I’m just somebody who went out and did a little painting thing, so I got lucky to get caught up in all this fun craziness.”

The question is: will the craziness ever end?

This article originally appeared on 06.01.18

A teacher’s message has gone viral after he let his student sleep in class — for the kindest reason.

Teachers spend time preparing lesson plans and trying to engage students in learning. The least a kid can do is stay awake in class, right?

But high school English teacher Monte Syrie sees things differently. In a Twitter thread, he explained why he didn’t take it personally when his student Meg fell asleep — and why he didn’t wake her up.

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Screenshots via MonteSyrie/Twitter.

Meg’s nap meant she missed an in-class essay, but she turned it in that night. “I didn’t beat her up about it. Didn’t have to,” he wrote. “In a different room, Meg may have been written up for sleeping in class and given a zero for missing and essay, but she wasn’t in a different room; she was in my room.”

Syrie pointed out that sometimes we have to “trust our instincts, even if it goes against the grain.”

Meg is a good student with a lot on her plate. She takes a zero-hour class before the normal school day and does farm chores before that. She runs track. And she’s a teenager, with all of the social, academic, and life pressures that go along with it.

Syrie teaches sophomore English in Cheney, Washington. Photo via Monte Syrie.

And she’s not alone. During the school year, teens report higher levels of stress than adults, and many students report feeling exhausted trying to keep up with it all.

“I think too often the biggest thing that people forget about high school students is that they are kids,” Syrie says. “They’re kids — kids who are having to grow up way too fast and are having way too much pressure put on them, in and out of school … even for our best and brightest, that pressure gets to be too much.”

Syrie’s compassionate story resonated with people because we’ve all been in a position of needing a little grace.

Syrie’s tweets continued, exemplifying how teachers can show kindness and understanding to students. He pointed out, “I can’t offer Meg a math class later in the day. I cannot feed her horses … I cannot run 6 race-pace 300s for her. I cannot spirit away her teen trouble. But I can give her a break.”

Syrie says he tries to be that responsive to all of his students. “Because I firmly believe that one size fits all is madness, I adjust to each student, trusting my instincts, trusting what I know,” he says. “Regardless of our responsibilities, life is hard, and we all need some grace now and then.”

Syrie says he’s had a few negative comments, but overwhelmingly the response has been positive from both students and teachers.

Screenshot via Alexa Shaw/Twitter.

Screenshot via Maria Riverso/Twitter.

Screenshot via Mrs. Chow/Twitter.

Syrie has words for those who say that allowing a student to sleep in class doesn’t prepare them for the “real world.”

Some may question whether letting a student sleep in class without consequence is a good idea. Syrie has a response:

“We are not working in factories, stamping out standardized products,” he says. “We are helping young humans — unique individuals — learn about themselves and their worlds. As such, when our young humans face the inevitable pressures of growing up, we need to respond with empathy.”

“And if that does not prepare them for the ‘real world’ as some may suggest, then maybe the world needs to change. I want to live in a world where there’s empathy. That’s the world I want to live in.”

You can read more about the way Syrie is rethinking education on his website.

This article originally appeared on 10.28.15

Anna and Maybelle are living in a pig’s paradise.

GIF via The Daily Squeal/Facebook.

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They feast on green grass. They sunbathe on 12 acres of pristine pasture. And they get belly rubs…

GIF via CBS This Morning/YouTube.

…from Jon Stewart and his wife, Tracey. Every. Single. Day.

GIF via CBS This Morning/YouTube.

Anna and Maybelle are just two of about a dozen other animals living in the lap of luxury on the Stewarts’ farm 50 miles outside of New York City, “CBS This Morning” reported.

The former “Daily Show” host and his wife, who is an author and animal advocate, have run Bufflehead Farm in New Jersey since 2013, according to The New York Times. Along with Anna and Maybelle, they care for four dogs, three rabbits, two guinea pigs, two fish, and a bird.

And while that might seem like a full house (er, yard), the Stewarts are just getting started.

Jon and Tracey’s large, furry family is about to get even bigger.

On Oct. 24, 2015, the couple announced that their property will officially become a Farm Sanctuary.

Farm Sanctuary, an advocacy group that fights the factory farm industry and cares for abused animals, has three other animal safe havens in the U.S.; the Stewarts’ New Jersey property will be its fourth.

Soon cows, sheep, chicken, goats, turkeys, and (of course) more pigs will be arriving at Bufflehead Farm.

Tracey, who has a newly released animal welfare book called “Do Unto Animals,” announced the big news at the nonprofit’s gala in New York City this past weekend.

“We’re getting married!” she told the crowd, according to a press release. “Farm Sanctuary and us, we’re getting married.”

“We bought a farm in New Jersey with the intention of starting a farm sanctuary of our own with an educational center, but what I’m announcing tonight is that our farm is actually going to be the New Jersey branch of Farm Sanctuary. We’re going to build new advocates, new curious learners, and new leaders for this very important movement.” — Tracey Stewart

Caring for rescued animals is quite the 180 from Jon’s previous day job as host of “The Daily Show.”

Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images.

But for Jon — who called himself his wife’s “wingman” during this next chapter and who has quietly eased into eating a vegetarian diet — farm life doesn’t seem so bad … although he joked about missing the perks of TV stardom during his recent Emmy speech.

“To everybody on television, I just want to tell you — cling to it!” he joked on stage last month after “The Daily Show” won Best Variety Talk Series at the award show.

“I have been off of television for six weeks, seven weeks, whatever it is. This is the first applause I’ve heard. It is a barren wasteland out there.” He told the Emmy’s audience. “You get used to craft services. Out in the world, there are tables with food — but you can’t take it. It costs money, and very little of it is gluten free or vegan.”

The comedian, however, seems perfectly at peace — in hog heaven, if you will — right where he is.

GIF via CBS This Morning/YouTube.

Although pig masseur and late night host may seem dramatically different, it appears that Jon is still doing what he does best in retirement: helping give a voice to the people — and animals — that deserve to be heard.

Check out the story from “CBS This Morning” on Jon and Tracey’s big news below:

This article originally appeared on 04.24.18

Around 1 a.m. on April 24, semi-truck drivers in the Oak Park area of Michigan received a distress call from area police: An unidentified man was standing on the edge of a local bridge, apparently ready to jump onto the freeway below.

Those drivers then did something amazing. They raced to the scene to help — and lined up their trucks under the bridge, providing a relatively safe landing space should the man jump.

Fortunately, he didn’t.

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The impressive line-up wasn’t a coincidence — the drivers were prepared for exactly this sort of situation.

Sgt. Jason Brockdorff of the Huntington Woods Police Department told The Detroit News that the response was something local police and truck drivers had actually trained for. But what was unusual was the sheer number of drivers who responded to the call.

“That’s a practice we use if we have a jumper,” Brockdorff said. “We try to do it every time, to lessen the distance someone would travel if they were to jump. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.”

The incident lasted nearly four hours, into the early morning. However, once the trucks were in place, the police were able to more comfortably negotiate with the unidentified man.

Eventually, the man walked off the bridge on his own and is currently receiving medical help.

In a pair of tweets, the local police department called attention to the incident to remind people in similar situations of the importance of seeking mental health services (emphasis mine):

This photo does show the work troopers and local officers do to serve the public. But also in that photo is a man struggling with the decision to take his own life. Please remember help is available through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

You can also call a loved one, member of the clergy or 911. There are so many people that can help you make the choice to get help and live! It is our hope to never see another photo like this again.

You can also call a loved one, member of the clergy or 911. There are so many people that can help you make the cho… https://t.co/9a7oaIAPGC

— MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet)
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Working together, the police and everyday strangers saved a life.

Ordinary people heeded the call of service to help a fellow person who was struggling. It’s a powerful image that’s impossible to ignore, and a reminder of humanity at its best.

This article originally appeared on 09.22.16

Imagine you’re working at a school and one of the kids is starting to act up. What do you do?

Traditionally, the answer would be to give the unruly kid detention or suspension.

But in my memory, detention tended to involve staring at walls, bored out of my mind, trying to either surreptitiously talk to the kids around me without getting caught or trying to read a book. If it was designed to make me think about my actions, it didn’t really work. It just made everything feel stupid and unfair.

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But Robert W. Coleman Elementary School has been doing something different when students act out: offering meditation.

Instead of punishing disruptive kids or sending them to the principal’s office, the Baltimore school has something called the Mindful Moment Room instead.

The room looks nothing like your standard windowless detention room. Instead, it’s filled with lamps, decorations, and plush purple pillows. Misbehaving kids are encouraged to sit in the room and go through practices like breathing or meditation, helping them calm down and re-center. They are also asked to talk through what happened.

Meditation and mindfulness are pretty interesting, scientifically.

Mindful meditation has been around in some form or another for thousands of years. Recently, though, science has started looking at its effects on our minds and bodies, and it’s finding some interesting effects.

One study, for example, suggested that mindful meditation could give practicing soldiers a kind of mental armor against disruptive emotions, and it can improve memory too. Another suggested mindful meditation could improve a person’s attention span and focus.

Individual studies should be taken with a grain of salt (results don’t always carry in every single situation), but overall, science is starting to build up a really interesting picture of how awesome meditation can be. Mindfulness in particular has even become part of certain fairly successful psychotherapies.

Back at the school, the Mindful Moment Room isn’t the only way Robert W. Coleman Elementary has been encouraging its kids.

The meditation room was created as a partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit that runs other programs as well. For more than 10 years the foundation has been offering the after-school program Holistic Me, where kids from pre-K through the fifth grade practice mindfulness exercises and yoga.

“It’s amazing,” said Kirk Philips, the Holistic Me coordinator at Robert W. Coleman. “You wouldn’t think that little kids would meditate in silence. And they do.”

There was a Christmas party, for example, where the kids knew they were going to get presents but were still expected to do meditation first.

“As a little kid, that’s got to be hard to sit down and meditate when you know you’re about to get a bag of gifts, and they did it! It was beautiful, we were all smiling at each other watching them,” said Philips.

The kids may even be bringing that mindfulness back home with them. In the August 2016 issue of Oprah Magazine, Holistic Life Foundation co-founder Andres Gonzalez said: “We’ve had parents tell us, ‘I came home the other day stressed out, and my daughter said, “Hey, Mom, you need to sit down. I need to teach you how to breathe.”‘”

The program also helps mentor and tutor the kids, as well as teach them about the environment.

They help clean up local parks, build gardens, and visit nearby farms. Philips said they even teach kids to be co-teachers, letting them run the yoga sessions.

This isn’t just happening at one school, either. Lots of schools are trying this kind of holistic thinking, and it’s producing incredible results.

In the U.K., for example, the Mindfulness in Schools Project is teaching adults how to set up programs. Mindful Schools, another nonprofit, is helping to set up similar programs in the United States.

Oh, and by the way, the schools are seeing a tangible benefit from this program, too.

Philips said that at Robert W. Coleman Elementary, there have been exactly zero suspensions last year and so far this year. Meanwhile, nearby Patterson Park High School, which also uses the mindfulness programs, said suspension rates dropped and attendance increased as well.

Is that wholly from the mindfulness practices? It’s impossible to say, but those are pretty remarkable numbers, all the same.

The 2021 WNBA All-Star Game ruled. The new format had Team USA play its first exhibition game against 12 WNBA All-Stars in a perfect blend of competition, entertainment, and pure beef. The league set the stage for Olympic snubs to get their revenge on a national platform with everyone watching, and of course, Arike Ogunbowale made this night hers.

The Dallas Wings guard was unbelievable on Wednesday night, pouring in 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting against the team that cut her just three weeks prior. The WNBA All-Stars beat the American team hunting for a seventh consecutive gold medal, 93-85, and Ogunbowale was the game’s MVP.

As much as she — and other Team WNBA participants — tried to downplay the significance of this event, her revenge was apparent. The WNBA’s reigning leading scorer wanted this game and she took it. Ogunbowale tore Team USA apart the only way she knows how: cold-blooded buckets. She connected on five three-point shots, including this four-point play.

She just… kept… draining them.

Here’s a whole montage!

To add to the fun, the WNBA realized that letting players tweet during timeouts and while they were sitting on the bench would make for incredible entertainment. It was hilarious, and Ogunbowale gave us live commentary after she botched a layup.

https://twitter.com/Arike_O/status/1415452100159434754

Two months from now, this game won’t mean anything. The Americans are highly favored to win another gold medal with a stacked lineup featuring six of the last 11 WNBA MVPs. Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, and more are going to get the job done in Tokyo.

But for right now, USA Basketball’s decision-makers have to be thinking about their decision to cut one of the world’s most prolific scorers, and that should sit well with Ogunbowale. This was also the best three-years-in-advance audition anyone’s ever put on. With Bird and Taurasi likely playing in their final Olympics, backcourt spots will be there for the taking in 2024. Ogunbowale should bring the tweet receipts from this one to tryouts.

The big takeaway is that Ogunbowale might be the most clutch basketball player on the planet. She’s hit buzzer-beaters to win the Final Four and national championship in the same NCAA tournament, countless fadeaways with the clock expiring in the WNBA, and now stepped up to put on one of the best revenge games ever.

If you give Ogunbowale a big stage, expect to get your feelings hurt.

Chvrches are just over a month away from releasing their anticipated album Screen Violence, which tackles modern-day social issues with nuance and a healthy dose of lush synths. The band just shared their “Good Girls” single, which speaks to how women have to “constantly justify their right to exist and negotiate for their own space.” Now treating the track with a visual element, Chvrches share the glitchy “Good Girls” video.

In the visual, vocalist Lauren Mayberry is prominently featured in front of a kaleidoscope of moving images. A handful of the pictures behind Mayberry show classic magazine advertisements, reflecting to the song’s theme of gender stereotypes as Mayberry sings of dismantling double standards.

In a statement about the video, director Scott Kiernan laid out his vision:

“The video for ‘He Said She Said’ dealt with doubt in making of one’s own image while under the manipulation of another; while ‘How Not to Drown’ sought an exit from a low, from feeling penned in by larger power structures, and refusing to succumb to them again. But ‘Good Girls’ portrays a certain learned confidence in knowing who and what you are, despite what others might conform to themselves. It’s having a clear vision, or something like a compound eye that can see at all angles.”

Watch Chvrches’ “Good Girls” video above and see their North American tour dates below.

11/09 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
11/10 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live
11/12 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live
11/14 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
11/15 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
11/17 — Minneapolis, MN @ Armory
11/18 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Riverside Theater
11/19 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
11/20 — Columbus, OH @ Express Live!
11/22 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
11/23 — Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
11/24 — Toronto, ON @ History
11/26 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/27 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/30 — Washington, DC @ Anthem
12/01 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
12/02 — New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
12/03 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
12/05 — Cincinnati, OH @ Ovation
12/06 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
12/08 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
12/09 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
12/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Union
12/11 — Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/13 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
12/14 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
12/16 — San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
12/17 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
12/18 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium

Screen Violence is out 8/27 via Glassnote Records. Pre-order it here.