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On the day of the NBA trade deadline in February, the Toronto Raptors made a somewhat unexpected move to acquire veteran big man Kelly Olynyk, along with young wing Ochai Agbaji, via a trade with the Utah Jazz. While the Raptors remain in something of a transitional phase, Olynyk has fit in well in Toronto, and word broke from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday evening that the 32-year-old will be sticking around on a two-year contract extension.

As noted in ESPN’s reporting, the Raptors were limited on how much money they could offer Olynyk on an extension. The most he could sign for would be a five percent raise from his current salary, and Olynyk, who was born and raised in Canada, could add two years to his current deal if he agreed to do so by the end of the league year on June 30.

For the season, Olynyk is averaging 8.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game with 54.2 percent shooting and 39.8 percent from three-point distance. His efficiency is down in a small sample with Toronto, but Olynyk does open things up on the offensive end with his floor-spacing and passing ability in the frontcourt.

Though Toronto’s forward-facing direction remains a bit unclear as the team battles in the play-in race in the East, this is a solid contractual value for Olynyk. He also pairs well with many kinds of players, even with defensive challenges along the way, and Olynyk was clearly happy enough in his return to Canada to commit there for two more seasons.

Once you reach over $100 for a bottle of Scotch whisky, you’ve arrived at the beginning of the truly good stuff. Sorry, but that’s the reality as we’re still pretty far from the coveted 20-year-old bracket in this category. Still, this is where things start to get special — so there’s a ton to adore about Scotch whisky priced between $100 and $125 per bottle.

Below, I’m calling out 12 Scotch whiskies that all freaking rule and cost just under $125. The throughline here is simple — these are all whiskies that you should know, buy, and try. I’ve included unpeated and peated malts, great blends, and one-offs that are exemplars of their respective whiskey regions. Essentially, if you try every whisky on this list, you’ll be giving yourself an advanced course in whisky knowledge and palate expansion.

This being Uproxx, these whiskies are ranked. Some of them just hit a little bit deeper than others. No matter what, you cannot miss when sampling any bottle listed below. So read through my tasting notes, find what speaks to you, and then hit those price links to snag yourself a bottle.

Let’s dive in!

• The Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2023, Ranked
• The Absolute Best Whiskeys To Chase Down This October
• The Best Whiskeys Of 2023, According To The John Barleycorn Awards
• Every Bottle Of Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky, Power Ranked For 2023
• One Of The World’s Biggest Whiskey Influencers Shares His Favorite Pours Of 2023

12. Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years Blended Scotch Whisky

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $104

The Whisky:

This blend used to be called Johnnie Walker Platinum, which was also aged 18 years. You might still see some of those bottles on shelves where scotch sells slowly. This is the same whisky and comprises 18 whiskies (single grain and single malt) all of which are a minimum of 18 years old. The primary distilleries in the bottle are Blair Athol, Cardhu, Glen Elgin, and Auchroisk.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Apple chips and toffee mingle with ripe berries, old leather, and supple malts with a hint of dark brown spice mingle on the nose.

Palate: The palate is a mix of salted caramel next to marzipan and vanilla pudding with a touch of canned tangerine.

Finish: The end is sweet with a line of dark chocolate cut with dried chili flakes with an ever so slight smoked edge.

Bottom Line:

This is a great high-end version of Johnnie Walker. This is a succinct pour of whisky that delivers more creamy desserts and fruit than bold smokiness. That makes this a nice sipper over some rocks after a big meal. Likewise, you can make a great cocktail with this one if you’re looking for spice and fruit in the mix.

11. Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky “Darkfest” Aged 15 Years

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $124

The Whisky:

This bottle from Islay’s Bowmore is a 15-year-old whisky that’s a blend of American and European oak. For the first 12 years, this whisky rests in ex-bourbon barrels. For the last three years, the whisky was transferred to Oloroso sherry casks. The whisky is then finished with local spring water, bringing it down to a very approachable 86-proof.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose opens with a dash of chocolate malts next to rum-raisin, meaty dates, and sourdough bread crusts with a hint of butter and fig jam.

Palate: The palate has a woody vibe that’s part cedar box and part orchard wood smoking chips next to prune, dried cherry tobacco, salted pear chips, and a hint of smoked cinnamon.

Finish: The end boils down some plums and figs into a hazelnut spiced cake with a touch of oatmeal cookie, walnut, sultanas, and nutmeg leading to cinnamon-apple tobacco packed into that old cedar box.

Bottom Line:

This is where Bowmore starts to shine. The mix of old bourbon and sherry casks works wonders with the very faintly peated Islay malt. There’s a gentleness to this pour that’s enticing and draws you back again and again, especially if you’re making whiskey-forward cocktails.

10. Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Càirdeas Warehouse 1

ABV: 52.2%

Average Price: $104

The Whisky:

2023’s Càirdeas release celebrates the Friends of Laphroaig and how they keep the brand going. The whisky in the bottle is made from Laphroaig’s high-phenol peated malt right next to the sea on Islay. The hot spirit was then filled in first-fill limited edition single barrel Maker’s Mark bourbon barrels. The barrels were then stored in the famed four-story Warehouse 1 right next to the crashing sea until they were just right and then bottled as-is after vatting.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose opens with a huge note of smoked grainy malts next to an un-opened box of Band-Aids, peppery smoked brisket with plenty of smoked fat, and smoked sea salt counterpointed by vanilla sheet cake with a honey icing and dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Palate: The palate opens with burnt yet buttery toffee next to white wildflowers, dried fennel, and rich and creamy honey smoothness and sweetness.

Finish: The end gets a little woody with a fatty smoked peppery vibe next to more toffee and a dash of seawater-washed granite.

Bottom Line:

This is a divisive whisky. You’re either going to fall in love with it from the jump or need a lot of coaxing to get your palate adapted. The seawater, green herbs, and creamy floral honey are wonderful but you have to get past big medicinal notes to get there.

It all works, in the end — trust me.

9. Highland Park 15 Years Old Viking Heart Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 44%

Average Price: $119

The Whisky:

Highland Park’s Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion hand-picked sherry-seasoned American oak barrels of single malt to create this new expression. The whisky is then decanted/bottled in a throwback ceramic bottle from Wade Ceramics, which has been making bottles like this since the early 1800s.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Even though this is a peated whisky, the nose is all about bright notes of orange and lemon oils with a deep vanilla sauce vibe, a touch of dried heather, and old sticks of cider-soaked cinnamon.

Palate: The palate lets the smoke sneak in via grilled pineapple that turns towards smoked plums, soft and moist Christmas cake with plenty of dried fruits, and a sense of cinnamon-flecked tobacco leaves that have just been singed around the edges.

Finish: The peat sneaks in late via an almost sea salt element that lets the orange oils, vanilla, and cinnamon tobacco all mellow towards a silky finish.

The Bottom Line:

This is the peated malt that you pour for bourbon lovers. The smokiness is bold but it’s tied to familiar notes of caramel, spice, and tobacco that help this feel like a distant cousin to something deeply familiar. Pour it neat and then play with this one. It’ll be a lot of fun (and may get you hooked on smoky whisky).

8. Aberfeldy Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 16 Years Old

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $104

The Whisky:

Aberfeldy is at the heart of Dewar’s blend. The whisky here is a classic Highland whisky aged in American oak and finished in sherry casks. That whisky is then cut down to proof with water from Pitilie Burn, a bubbling stream with gold deposits next to the distillery.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Aberfeldy is renowned for its honeyed nature and this shines through on the nose with hints of clove-studded oranges, a touch of that sherried wood, and soft notes of heather, tobacco, and baking spice.

Palate: The palate holds onto the wet sherry wood while going full holiday cake with spices, nuts, dried and candied fruits, and a sweet maltiness.

Finish: The end reveals a mild note of bitter dark chocolate next to the honey and spices as it slowly fades through brandied cherries dipped in dark chocolate and layered into rich tobacco leaves.

Bottom Line:

This is just a nice sipping whisky. Sometimes that’s enough, folks.

7. Glenmorangie A Tale Of The Forest Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $119

The Whisky:

This expression from Glenmorangie’s mad scientist Master Distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden is a total departure. Dr. Bill kilned the barley (the drying process during malting) with a very old-school method using local botanicals from the Highlands. The kiln was accented with a bushel of juniper berries, birch bark, and heather flowers which layered their flavor notes into the malted barley that was used to ferment the juice that eventually was distilled, aged, and bottled in the Highlands.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This lives up to its name from the jump with a nose full of dank pine resin, fresh juniper, and dry coriander with a hint of malted rye cakes and the faintest whisper of wet campfire smoke.

Palate: The palate leans into bitter burnt orange rinds with a sense of clove buds and chinotto leaves next to oolong tea leaves cut with eucalyptus and a kiss of old oak.

Finish: That old oak and tea vibe drives the finish toward a hint of spiced malt cakes and a drop of fresh honey cut with wild sage and Scotch broom flowers with a fleeting sense of that dank pine from the nose reappearing briefly.

Bottom Line:

This is a wildly unique bottle of whisky that stuns. It’s so deep and funky but still delivers this old-school nostalgic vibe that transports you to the Highlands of Scotland on a sunny day. This is some beautiful juice that deserves your time with drops of water and re-tastings. You’ll be rewarded with a vibrant and ever-changing profile of great whisky where you feel the distiller beckoning you deeper and deeper into the forest to find more.

6. Ardbeg Corryvreckan Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $109

The Whisky:

This whisky is named after the world’s second-largest ocean whirlpool, called Corryvreckan. The whisky in the bottle is Ardbeg Ten blended with single malt that’s been aged exclusively in new French Limousin casks.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a softness on the nose that leans into dark yet slightly tart berries under layers of sharp spice, wet brown sugar, and plenty of sea salt.

Palate: The palate ups the saltiness as yellow Scotch Broom flowers mingle with creamy dark chocolate, dashes of freshly cracked black pepper, and a light hint of citrus oil.

Finish: The finish is soft and creamy thanks to that dark chocolate with mild spice cut by more sea salt and a hint of ground mushroom powder with a mossy edge.

Bottom Line:

This is a boldly peated whisky that leans into earthiness above ash or medicinal vibes. The overall feel of this whisky is a gentle stroll through a mossy forest with a sense of the sea just beyond the tree line. It’s magically gentle and inviting.

5. Springbank Aged 10 Years Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $104

The Whisky:

This is the gateway to Springbank, one of the world’s most elite distilleries. The single malt is aged in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks with a 60/40 split respectively in the final blend. That blend of barrels is just kissed with iconic Campbeltown spring water and then bottled as-is.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This is smooth as can be with a nose full of bourbon vanilla, dark plums, soft toffee, and a hint of wet forest floor countering a spicy and honeyed maltiness with a hint of sagebrush.

Palate: The taste feels like an orchard in the summer full of fruit — tart, ripe, sweet, overripe — next to big notes of ground black pepper, apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks, freshly ground nutmeg, and plenty of cloves.

Finish: The finish is subtle and sweet with a good dose of salted caramel next to a whiff of dried peat with a hint of wet straw.

Bottom Line:

This is another gently sweet and inviting peated malt. There’s a clear earthiness that’s accented by deep notes of dark fruit and creamy vanilla/caramel. It’s bourbon adjacent, making this a killer prospect for bringing American whiskey drinkers over to the peated side of Scotland.

4. Kilchoman 2023 Limited Edition 100% Islay Single Farm Single Malt

ABV: $104

Average Price: 50%

The Whisky:

Kilchoman is the whisky lover’s distillery on Islay. The small family-run operation just dropped their beloved 100% Islay release. The whisky is made from barley grown on Islay (from a single farm) that’s then malted at Kilchoman with their own peat from a few steps down the road. That peated malt is then long fermented and distilled before resting in ex-bourbon casks until just right. This year’s batch yielded 13,000 bottles.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Canned brown bread and walnut loaf pop on the nose with nutmeg, clove, and plenty of fresh butter next to orange rinds, pear brandy, and a whisper of smoked sea salt over some almost floral honey.

Palate: Deep and creamy bourbon vanilla greets you on the palate with a sense of smoked toffee rolled in smoked raisins and dipping in dusty brown winter spices before that honey makes a creamy and lightly savory comeback.

Finish: Smoked lavender and freshly toasted sourdough pop at the end with more salted butter with a twinge of smokiness from an old wood-burning stove in a brick and clay kitchen from yesteryear as that lush vanilla rounds out the very end.

Bottom Line:

This is another whisky that’s just delicious. It’s so deep and varied while offering this clear sense of home and nostalgic comfort. It balances savory, creamy, and sweet with a great sense of sharp spice and soft lushness perfectly. Sip it slow and enjoy the ride.

3. The GlenDronach Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Cask Strength Batch no. 12

ABV: 58.2%

Average Price: $104

The Whisky:

Last year’s batch from Dr. Rachel Barrie at The GlenDronach is all about long aging. The whisky is left to mellow in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks from Andalucía, Spain. The age statement is on the bottle, but the blends tend to lean over a decade. The final mix is then bottled at cask strength to really highlight that Spanish oak.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Scoops of decadent dark chocolate powder draw you in with a hint of espresso cream, burnt orange, and marzipan with a moist sticky toffee pudding vibe next to a faint whisper of dried rose.

Palate: The palate is lush with a roasted and rich espresso bean vibe with salted dark chocolate, chinotto orange, and more rich and moist marzipan with a dash of ginger candy dipped in clove and allspice tea.

Finish: There’s a rich vanilla underbelly that smooths everything out on the end with a sense of rum raisin and faint bourbon cherry tobacco layered with soft cedar and mocha lattes.

Bottom Line:

This is nostalgia in a glass. It goes hard on the holiday vibes while delivering a deep and dark profile that goes beyond the ordinary and into the spectacular. That’s especially true if you’re coming from a rich and creamy bourbon background/palate.

2. Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky “The Wild Explorador” Special Release 2023

ABV: 59.7%

Average Price: $124

The Whisky:

2023’s Talisker Special Release is a unique version of the iconic whisky from Skye. Classic Talisker was finished in a trio of port casks — Ruby, White, and Tawny — before small batching and then bottling 100% as-is at cask strength. The throughline was to lean into the flavor notes of Portuguese “explorers” from the last centuries.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose opens has a classic Talisker with deep smoked pear and softly minerally campfire smoke next to moments of oyster liqueur before moving toward brandy-soaked prunes and mulled wine with plenty of molasses, cinnamon, and anise over a creamy sense of dark chocolate oranges.

Palate: The taste leans into that creaminess with a lush palate full of blended dates, figs, and prunes with smoke sea salt, smoldering spice barks, and the embers of an orchard bark fire on a cold and rainy day next to the sea.

Finish: The end amps up the smoke in a way that’s like restoking a campfire with fresh apple and pear logs and nutshells and then tossing on a bunch of spice barks for good measure as the sea crashes mere feet away and you settle into a big slice of mincemeat pie.

Bottom Line:

This is a divine one-off of Talisker that takes the seaside gentle malt to new heights. Every single moment of this whisky is firing on all cylinders with a deep sense of clarity and beauty. Sip this one slowly and dive deep. It’ll repay you in gorgeous nuance.

1. The Dalmore Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 14 Years

ABV: 43.8%

Average Price: $114

The Whisky:

This Highland single malt is a classic malted whisky from The Dalmore that spends 14 years mellowing. Then The Dalmore’s Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass hand-selects specific barrels for vatting and re-barreling in very rare Pedro Ximénez casks from the House of Gonzalez Byass in Spain. Once Glass deems those barrels just right, they’re vatted, proofed, and bottled exclusively for the U.S. market.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose opens with a sense of subtle citrus — almost bitter orange and lemon — next to salted black licorice, caramel malted ice cream, toffee candies, and marzipan cake covered with poppy seeds and vanilla wafers.

Palate: The palate is pure sticky toffee pudding fresh out of the oven with a little bit of orange zest and flaked salt next to black-tea-soaked dates, sweet cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, rum-soaked caramel sauce, and a dollop of brandy butter with a twist of dark chocolate nibs.

Finish: The end leans into the dates and marzipan with a touch of spiced fig jam and prunes dipped in creamy yet very dark salted chocolate.

Bottom Line:

This whisky feels quintessential from the first sip to the last. It stands alone as a deep and beautiful sipper that hints at comfort and nostalgia without fully giving in to it. This is the best sipper at this price point with the most nuance and depth.

First that long-threatened Party Down revival actually happened, now it looks like that also long-threatened Community movie might come to fruition, too. Last month, alum Donald Glover offered a promising update on the film that would reunite (most of) Greendale Community College’s most beloved study group, saying that a) he wasn’t too busy to do it and b) the script is done. Now we have further reassurance from another cast member, Joel McHale.

While chatting with Deadline about his new show Animal Control, the actor and game show host said he was pretty sure the Community movie would start shooting “this year.” In fact, he’d be “shocked” if it didn’t, though they were “basically working around Donald’s schedule.”

What will the Greendale gang be doing in this movie? For that McHale had some jokes. “We go to the center of the earth,” he cracked. “It’s like the movie The Core.”

As it happens, we already do have some idea of what will go down. Glover told The Hollywood Reporter that the story revolves around a “college reunion,” with Danny Pudi’s Abed Nadir having become “this big director.” Is he as big a director as two of the show’s frequent directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who went on to helm a couple of them Avengers movies? We’ll find out, eventually.

Community began in 2009 on NBC, where it lived for five seasons. After they cancelled it, Yahoo! Screen picked it up for a sixth and final season, which ran in 2015. Most of the original cast is expected to return — not just Glover and McHale and Pudi but also Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong, and Jim Rash. No word on Chevy Chase, but that, well, seems unlikely.

(Via Deadline)

Towards the end of The Beatles’ illustrious but brief career, Paul McCartney wrote “Let it Be,” a song about finding peace by letting events take their natural course. It was a sentiment that seemed to mirror the feeling of resignation the band had with its imminent demise.

The bittersweet song has had an appeal that has lasted generations and that may be because it reflects an essential psychological concept: the locus of control.

“It’s about understanding where our influence ends and accepting that some things are beyond our control,” Jennifer Chappell Marsh, a marriage and family therapist, told The Huffington Post. “We can’t control others, so instead, we should focus on our own actions and responses.”

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This idea of giving up control, or the illusion of it, when it does us no good, was perfectly distilled into 2 words that everyone can understand as the “Let Them” theory. Podcast host, author, motivational speaker and former lawyer Mel Robbins explained this theory perfectly in a vial Instagram video.

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“I just heard about this thing called the ‘Let Them Theory,’ I freaking love this,” Robbins starts the video.

“If your friends are not inviting you out to brunch this weekend, let them. If the person that you’re really attracted to is not interested in a commitment, let them. If your kids do not want to get up and go to that thing with you this week, let them.” Robbins says in the clip. “So much time and energy is wasted on forcing other people to match our expectations.”

“If they’re not showing up how you want them to show up, do not try to force them to change; let them be themselves because they are revealing who they are to you. Just let them – and then you get to choose what you do next,” she continued.

The phrase is a great one to keep in your mental health tool kit because it’s a reminder that, for the most part, we can’t control other people. And if we can, is it worth wasting the emotional energy? Especially when we can allow people to behave as they wish and then we can react to them however we choose.

Stop wasting energy on trying to get other people to meet YOUR expectations. Instead, try using the “Let Them Theory.” 

@melrobbins

Stop wasting energy on trying to get other people to meet YOUR expectations. Instead, try using the “Let Them Theory.” 💥 Listen now on the #melrobbinspodcast!! “The “Let Them Theory”: A Life Changing Mindset Hack That 15 Million People Can’t Stop Talking About” 🔗 in bio #melrobbins #letthemtheory #letgo #lettinggo #podcast #podcastepisode

How you respond to their behavior can significantly impact how they treat you in the future.

It’s also incredibly freeing to relieve yourself of the responsibility of changing people or feeling responsible for their actions. As the old Polish proverb goes, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

“Yes! It’s much like a concept propelled by the book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k.’ Save your energy and set your boundaries accordingly. It’s realizing that we only have “control” over ourselves and it’s so freeing,” 60DaysToLive2012 wrote.

“Let It Be” brought Paul McCartney solace as he dealt with losing his band in a very public breakup. The same state of mind can help all of us, whether it’s dealing with parents living in the past, friends who change and you don’t feel like you know them anymore, or someone who cuts you off in traffic because they’re in a huge rush to go who knows where.

The moment someone gets on your nerves and you feel a jolt of anxiety run up your back, take a big breath and say, “Let them.”

You’ve probably been there. You’re out and about and you see something that just feels … off.

“Should I step in? … But it’s not really any of my business. … And I’m not even sure they need my help…”

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Our gut tells us to speak up, to ask questions, to tell someone. But often, we don’t.

This happened to Malyk Bonnet, a 17-year-old from Montreal. But instead of ignoring his instincts, he acted brilliantly. It may have saved a woman’s life.

Bonnet had been having a relatively normal day until he spotted something suspicious on his way home.

He’d been waiting for the bus after a shift at the restaurant where he works when he saw a man and woman arguing. He sensed a red flag.

“The guy was screaming at her, the girl,” Bonnet told CBC News. “He wasn’t really gentle with her, and I started watching, because I thought he would hit her, so I approached them a little bit.”

The pair asked Bonnet if he could lend them bus fares to nearby Laval, a city about 25 miles away from downtown Montreal.

Bonnet felt uneasy about what was happening. But instead of declining, he decided to get more involved. He helped the man and woman with their fares and told them he was also traveling to Laval (which was not the case).

“My plan was to keep them in a public place where he wouldn’t hurt her,” Bonnet told Dateline NBC. “I decided to be friendly with the man and have him think I was his friend. I played my game and he seemed to trust me.”

After arriving in Laval, Bonnet suggested they grab a bite to eat. At the restaurant, he gave the pair $50 for food and excused himself to use the restroom. Finally having the opportunity, he called the police and told them “someone had been kidnapped.” Officers arrived minutes later.

What Bonnet hadn’t known at the time was that police were already looking for the perpetrator and his victim.

The abusive man Bonnet reported had abducted his ex-girlfriend just hours beforehand.

“We were looking for a 29-year-old woman who was kidnapped by her former boyfriend earlier that day,” Laval police Lt. Daniel Guérin told CBC News. “We believed that man was very dangerous.”

Previously, the abuser spent time behind bars for assaulting his ex and sending her death threats.

Bonnet told Dateline NBC that while he didn’t speak with the woman after police arrived, he could see how relieved she was. “We made eye contact and she had tears in her eyes. She was really happy.”

Unfortunately, this type of tragic experience isn’t all that rare.

While this particular story unfolded in Canada — where roughly half of women have experienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence since the age of 16 — you’ll find similarly alarming statistics in the U.S.

1 out of 4 American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. What’s more, female victims of homicide are far more likely than male victims to be killed by a current or former partner.

Although it may seem easy to simply leave an abusive relationship in the dust, take it from some women who’ve been there — it’s much more difficult than it seems from the outside looking in.

Instead of passing judgment, you can learn more about how you can help friends and family members who may be experiencing domestic abuse.

Bonnet has become a local hero for his selflessness.

“His quick actions may have saved this young woman’s life,” Guérin said. The officers made sure to collect money so Bonnet could be reimbursed for the bus fares and food he purchased while trying to save the victim. “He now has 500 new friends in our department.”

Thank you, Malyk, for reminding me that sometimes the bravest thing I can do is simply listen to that voice when it’s trying to get my attention.

This article originally appeared on 08.20.15

There are a lot of hard things about living with Crohn’s disease. Not being able to talk about it might be the worst one.

Imagine being constantly tired, but in a way that even 15 hours of sleep a day can’t cure. Imagine going to dinner, but every time you eat something as simple as a roll of warm bread, it feels like it might’ve had broken glass inside of it.

Then, it’s time to go to the bathroom. Again. Is that the fifth time this hour or the sixth? You’ve lost track. It’s a running joke now — your friends think it’s funny, but nobody really talks about what happens when you step away. Because, really, you look fine. Just tired.

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Crohn’s, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is “a condition of chronic inflammation potentially involving any location of the gastrointestinal tract.” But as defined by myself, someone with Crohn’s, it’s like having food poisoning all the time. The symptoms and presentation are different for every patient, but one thing is the same for all: It’s an invisible illness, and it sucks.

And let’s face it. Talkin’ about your poop is taboo.

A little privacy, please?

Well, unless you’re Krystal Miller.

Stumble over to her Facebook page, Bag Lady Mama, and nearly every post has a reference to doing the doo.

Krystal, who lives in Perth, Australia, has Crohn’s. She was first diagnosed at 15 years old, and by 22, most of her intestinal tract had been badly damaged by the disease. At that point, doctors decided to remove large portions of her large and small intestines.

For the last decade, she’s been living with a permanent ileostomy, a surgically made opening in the abdominal wall that connects the lower intestine to an ostomy bag.

Now, at 32, she’s sharing her daily experiences through Facebook.

Her posts show raw insight into her world. They’re unapologetically blunt, they’re full of curse words, and they’re gaining traction — quickly.

In an interview with Upworthy, Krystal said she expected to have a few hundred Likes on her page within a month or two of launching it, mostly from close friends who knew about her life with Crohn’s. But since it launched Jan. 25, it’s reached more than 13,000 Likes.

“I did expect it to reach Europe and America because I have international friends,” she said. “But I never expected for it to be as expansive as it has been. It’s crazy — I actually got recognized at my local shops the other day!”

Her photos show off her day-to-day life with her two children, Lukas, 4, and Arabella, five months, and her husband, Shannon. Each is filled with her unabashed love for her body.

Scars, bag, and the ostomy itself are all on display in the hopes that she can help remove some of the stigma around Crohn’s and what life with the disease is like.

It’s not a comfortable thing to live with physically or socially. It took years before Krystal was willing to open up about it.

“When I was first diagnosed, I was very uncomfortable. I would be in-tears uncomfortable if someone had to go to the toilet after me. … And when you’re young, it’s embarrassing and it’s pretty f*cking horrific. It’s been slow progress , but I just kind of got sick of caring. Like, who gives a f*ck, it is what it is, I can’t do anything about it.“

She would go to extreme lengths to cover up the symptoms of the disease, especially when using public restrooms. But she credits the surgery that removed her rectum with alleviating a lot of that embarrassment as well. Once her permanent ostomy was in place, many of her symptoms were alleviated, and her experiences with “number 2” became more matter-of-fact than anything else.

“It’s been slow progress , but I just kind of got sick of caring. Like, who gives a f*ck, it is what it is, I can’t do anything about it.”

From there, it became about reclaiming her sexiness and self-confidence, which started with revisiting how she looked at herself.

“When we look at other women, we don’t see the same flaws that we see in ourself. And I’ve had to retrain myself to see myself the way others might see me, to not notice the finer intricacies that I see on myself. Other people don’t see the sh*t that we see.”

But she hasn’t stopped there. She also posts fashion tips for other women with Crohn’s and shares advice on how to dress the way you want while still being comfortable with a bag.

Krystal does have one thing she wants to say to other people who have Crohn’s and other IBDs: It’s not always going to be easy, and that’s OK.

“We have earned that right to f*cking hate the world,” she said. “We are entitled to f*cking be angry and to be sad and to have bad days. If you need to feel sorry for yourself, then feel sorry for yourself. But then pick yourself up and keep going.”

This article originally appeared on 04.04.16

The last time Schoolboy Q went on tour was in 2019, for his then-new album Crash Talk. At the time, he hit 19 cities through the fall, concluding his tour on December 4 in his native Los Angeles. He announced his next album would come out sometime in 2020. Then, the pandemic hit and the possibility of touring went out the window for a number of artists.

Despite apparently completing that album as promised, Q decided to hold off on releasing it, as the landscape of the recording industry had changed so rapidly with the advent of TikTok, an explosion in music festivals, and a general uncertainty about how to proceed. Q himself settled into dad life, even releasing a standalone single about being a “Soccer Dad,” and worked on his golf game. However, he’s got a new album out, Blue Lips, so it’s fair to wonder: Will he go on tour again for his new album?

If his tweet about the subject is anything to go on, it looks like the answer is a resounding yes. Responding to a tweet about the speculation surrounding a desired tour announcement, Q wrote an all-caps endorsement, “BLUE LIPS TOUR,” complete with the widely acknowledged shouting emoji.

Russell Wilson’s time with the Denver Broncos is coming to an end. In a bit of news that had been expected for months, the team announced that they’ll release the veteran signal caller when the 2024 league year begins in nine days.

Wilson responded to this by posting a letter on social media that thanked the fans, the city, and a whole lot of people within the Broncos organization. But perhaps unsurprisingly, there is no mention of head coach Sean Payton or anyone in the front office.

The move comes a little more than two months after Denver decided to bench Wilson for the final two games of the year, which preceded reports that Wilson believed the team would cut him this offseason. And then, a few days later, the bombshell came, as Wilson revealed that there were conversations earlier in the year where the team allegedly threatened to bench him if he did not remove an injury guarantee in his contract.

Wilson came to Denver via a trade with the Seattle Seahawks in which the Broncos gave up a whole lot to acquire the former Pro Bowl quarterback. Shortly before his first season with the team, Wilson signed a $245 million contract with $165 million of that money guaranteed. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Wilson was hardly at his best during his first year, as the team went 4-11 and he only completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in head coach Nathaniel Hackett’s system. While Wilson put up better numbers in his second year — 66.4 percent, 26 touchdowns, eight interceptions — Denver still struggled to win games in Payton’s first season in charge, going 7-8 and missing the postseason for the eighth year in a row.

Now, Wilson will hit free agency, where he should be an appealing option for teams that want a veteran QB in their room. As for the Broncos, the team is slated to pick 12th in the 2024 NFL Draft, although it’s very possible that four quarterbacks (Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy) are all off the board by the time they’re on the clock.

This was Zach Johnston’s first article on Uproxx. Seeing as to how he’s become something of an institution around these parts, we decided to re-run it to celebrate his work anniversary.

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David Bowie’s death never really hit home until I attended the Tilda Swinton-hosted memorial at this year’s Berlinale [the year was 2015] and watched Nicolas Roeg’s bizarrely brilliant The Man Who Fell to Earth unspool in all its 35mm glory. Bowie and Roeg premiered The Man Who Fell to Earth at the 1976 Berlinale, and shortly afterward Bowie moved to Berlin. As the last reel of film flickered into darkness, I sat alone for a few minutes, letting the theater empty, then decided to go for a walk in the wintry German capital I call home. It was cold, but I had a coat and I felt like seeing a few of Bowie’s old hangouts.

First, I headed to Hauptstrasse 155 — where Bowie and Iggy Pop lived. As I walked down the Hauptstrasse, I passed a construction site. The smell of burning aluminum studs took me back to my dad’s workshop in Port Townsend, Washington. This is where I first heard Bowie, back in the ’80s. You know, the nineteenhundreds.

One day on a trip to the library, I’d checked out a cassette tape of Peter and the Wolf as narrated by that dude in that funny pose on one of my old man’s vinyls. As my dad sharpened a chainsaw — the smell of oil and steel wafting towards me with every swish of the file against the chain — we listened to David Bowie talk about a kid capturing a wolf. That voice. So British. So entrancing.

I was spellbound. From there we’d listen to Heroes, Aladdin Sane, Man Who Sold the World, and so on. That first cassette tape in the workshop started something… me and my dad listening to David Bowie together.

As I grew up, I didn’t really think about Bowie too much. He was just another powerful musician my dad introduced me to (along with Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmister, and so, so many others), that is until I moved to Berlin. In Berlin, Bowie and I were fellow expatriates and I felt connected in some odd way.

With the construction site behind me, I arrived at Hauptstrasse 155. There were a dozen or so people gathered: some standing in silence, some crying, most taking photos with their phones. Mounds of flowers, candles, and hastily processed fan art littered the sidewalk.

Lou Reed had been in Berlin for a while by the time Bowie co-produced Reed’s amazingly dark and poignant Berlin album, and Reed sold Berlin to Bowie as a place to reset without the gaze of the media. He promised Bowie that you could ride down the street on a bike to the shop, or go to a disco without being mobbed. Bowie was sold.

Bowie moved to a crumbling and still bullet-riddled Berlin in 1976. He’d just finished Station to Station and had officially hung up the neon leotards of Ziggy. He wanted to get off the cocaine and put his life back together and West Berlin seemed like the perfect place to do so. In what was probably the most badass roommate situation of all time, Bowie moved in with Iggy Pop in the West Berlin district of Schoenberg. Let that sink in a moment — the same time Bowie was making his Berlin Trilogy, Iggy Pop was making The Idiot and Lust for Life. That’s five iconic albums made by a couple of guys living together in one rundown flat in Berlin. If you believe in magic, then there is some serious magic in that building.

The same year Bowie decided to call West Berlin home, he started painting and drawing. He opened up a new side to his artistry that would carry him throughout his career. But it was the music that would become the true calling card of his time in Berlin. It was during these years that Bowie, Brian Eno, and Tony Visconti would create the mystical and profound Berlin Trilogy. Berlin also allowed Bowie the sort of anonymity that he needed after the whirlwind of mass stardom he achieved with Ziggy Stardust.

I paid my respects to Bowie at his and Iggy’s door and carried on up the Hauptstrasse towards Potsdamer Platz. I wanted to go to Hansa Ton Studios where Bowie recorded. Every morning, he would ride his bike along the same route I was traveling. Without a bike, it took 20 minutes before I got close, but zeroing in on the studio wasn’t easy. I walked beneath the glass towers that loom over Potsdamer Platz and got lost on the backstreets. Hansa Ton is about as innocuous a building as you can imagine — just a single shingle hanging above the door.

Bowie had written a lot of music for The Man Who Fell to Earth that, in the end, was left unused. A lot of that music would become Low. It’s a very somber album. The A-side is lyrical. The B-side is mostly instrumental and conceptual. Though recorded in Bowie’s home in France, it was mixed at the famous Hansa Ton Studios in West Berlin, which at the time was set against the Berlin Wall. Bowie and Visconti recount how East German soldiers would watch them work through high-powered binoculars, day and night, and write down what they were doing. Low set Bowie on a new path musically and visually. Just look at that cover (Bowie as The Man Who Fell to Earth no less).

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During those early days in Berlin, Bowie discovered that his art could be pop, personal, political, and innovative all at the same time. Sometimes the act didn’t have to just be an act. Sometimes the act could be you, your surroundings, and life as it happens. Low was a success and the following album, Heroes, was even bigger. The record was conceived, recorded, and mixed in West Berlin — it was the sum total of his new life, his new views, his new career.

It was also a hit machine that managed to touch on what Bowie was witnessing in Berlin. In 1977, while Bowie, Visconti, and Eno were being spied on in Hansa Ton Studios, two people were killed trying to cross the wall. One of them was shot dead. The other drowned trying to swim the River Spree. With that context, Bowie’s lyrics seem even more potent.

“I, I can remember
Standing by the wall
And the guns, shot above our heads
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall
And the shame was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day”

With Heroes, Bowie had fully reinvented himself and added to the growing list of great albums influenced by life in Berlin: from Lou Reed’s druggy epic Berlin to Iggy’s Lust for Life, and even later in the ’80s to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ The Firstborn Is Dead and U2’s Zoo Station.

After standing outside the studio, I wandered toward the Paris Bar where Bowie got so drunk during a Rolling Stone interview that he ended it by rolling around in the ice outside in an absinthe fit. These days, the restaurant bar feels too trendy for my taste. I opted to carry on back to Kreuzberg where I ended up drinking at Luzia — where Iggy, Reed, and Bowie drank too.

Of course, Bowie’s records were spinning while I sipped my Sazerac. The crowd was pretty small and quiet for a Friday night. And then Lodger started to play. I sat and listened to the album from start to finish for the first time in my life. It felt like we were all sitting there, sipping our drinks, and just listening. It was eerie and comforting at the same time and I decided it was time for a dram of absinthe.

Lodger would signal the end of this iteration of Bowie’s rebirth, and his collaborations with Eno (for a time). Lodger was mostly written and recorded while on the road during the Isolar II World Tour. Though it wasn’t made in Berlin, it was inspired by the events having led up to that point because of Berlin. Lodger failed commercially and critically. Though it has received a resurgence and reassessment, it will forever be considered the weakest of Bowie’s Berlin triptych. But it’s evident in Lodger that a new era of Bowie was emerging. His music and style would become political and inclusive and lead to a whole new era of Bowie that we got in the ’80s. When Bowie left Berlin, he left a new man and a wholly changed artist.

In 1987, Bowie gathered his band for a concert at the Berlin Wall in front of the still-burned and bombed-out Reichstag. He turned as many speakers towards the east as the west. On the East side of the Wall, hundreds gathered to try and catch a few notes of the concert. Hundreds turned into thousands. As Bowie launched into Heroes, riots broke out as the thousands of East Berliners gathered and started to chant, “Tear down the Wall!” Police brutalized and arrested them. East Berliners raged back. Many think it was Rocky Balboa that ended the Cold War. But I like to think Bowie had a hand in it, too, pointing his speakers at the disenfranchised and isolated East Berliners and giving them something to fight for.

In the days since Bowie’s death, vinyls of his immense discography spin in every corner of Berlin. Memorials and street art continue to pop up. Even the Mayor has chimed in, calling Bowie “one of us.” There’s a petition to change one block of Hauptstrasse to David-Bowie-Strasse. Berliners love their freaks.

The city weeps for their adopted son. I didn’t go to the places Lou Reed lived and worked in Berlin when he died. But I did with Bowie. As I was walking the streets, with Heroes echoing in my ears, I realized that Bowie represented what I had moved to Berlin to chase — reinvention — whereas Reed represented a place I didn’t want to go back to — the darkness of drugs, failed relationships, and generational anger. Bowie had some of that edge too, but he was weird enough and bold enough to infuse it with a bright future.

As I shuffled home, the absinthe provided a nice buffer between me and the biting Berlin cold. My mind drifted back to a hot summer in Berlin a few years ago. The streets were muggy and smelled of tobacco smoke, car exhaust, and dust. The neo-classic apartment with high ceilings I loved when I moved to the city was seeming less and less like a good idea and more like a blast furnace. I remembered sitting in my apartment, sweating, and trying to get a one-year-old baby boy to sleep in the unbearable heat. My heart raced as the cries got louder and more shrill. Like any desperate parent, I clamored to find something to soothe him, scanning playlist after playlist.

And there it was, Bowie narrating Peter and the Wolf. I put it on and heard Bowie’s voice, so refined, so British, explaining all the instruments. It was the cool breeze my son needed. The cries stopped almost immediately (almost magically). Ten minutes later, he was asleep, and I was back in the shop with my dad.

As I keyed into my door, memory and walk complete, I smiled — thinking of that day and the day in my dad’s workshop decades earlier. I thought of how Berlin changed Bowie and Bowie changed me and how, even in death, that cycle can continue as long as there is art to poke holes into the darkness.

If you are in Berlin, and interested in Bowie, you can take an organized tour or follow the links in this article and do it for free!

Schoolboy Q’s new album, Blue Lips, dropped Friday and the South Central rapper is taking the opportunity to look back on his career as a whole. While he’s been more active on Twitter lately as he promotes his new album, he asked fans if he could “be a nerd” and spend some time talking about his past albums. Like Jay-Z before him, he did so in the form of a ranking. Here’s Schoolboy Q’s ranking of his albums, along with the reasoning for each one.

How Schoolboy Q Ranked His Albums

6. Setbacks

Q ranks his 2011 debut the lowest out of his discography because “I barely started rapping & u can tell.” However, he does credit TDE President Punch for being “smart” for signing him.

5. Crash Talk

2019’s Crash Talk was Q’s most recent release but it’s far from his favorite. Although he thinks the album has “sum of my best rappin even tHo it wasn’t to my standards,” he gives it a demerit for “cHasing tHe first week number.”

4. Oxymoron

Q’s third album lands in the middle of both his discography and his ranking. While it marked the beginning of his commercial dominance, receiving a Platinum certification and spawning fan-favorite singles like “Collard Greens”, “Man Of The Year,” and “Yay Yay,” Quincy didn’t much enjoy having to make multiple versions for different outlets like Target, Best Buy, and Apple (which probably explains why Blue Lips isn’t getting a deluxe edition).

3. Habits & Contradictions

By indie standards, 2012’s Habits & Contradictions was an impressive success, announcing Q’s arrival on the mainstream level despite its humble resources. While he says he’d “take away maybe 3 songs” (without saying which three), he gives it an “8/10.”

2. Blank Face LP

The TDE rapper’s fourth studio album and second on a major, 2016’s Blank Face was his departure from expectations, what he calls “one of the most creative GANGSTA RAP albums ever.” While the creative risks may have hindered it as a high-profile follow-up to his hit mainstream debut, Q considers it a “classic.”

1. Blue Lips

Naturally, Q feels like his newest is his best, but he might not be too off-base. Q got vulnerable discussing the direction of the new album, admitting “album been done for years,” but confessing that he wasn’t sure about releasing it in the modern climate. “I just didn’t know wHere I would fit in tHis circus of just bullsHit & algoritHm,” he said. However, it certainly looks like his courage is paying off.

Blue Lips is out now via TDE/Interscope.