Every few months or so, I like to take stock of what has occurred in music, sports, cultural and in my general mindset and create a list that is broken up into three distinct categories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. So, on this night of an NBA Draft with two Good players, a lot of Bad players and a TON of Ugly players, I feel that it is only my duty to weigh in on what has been Good, Bad and Ugly in the past four to five months.
The Good:
-The Boston Celtics memorable and gutsy run to the NBA Finals. Sometimes glorious, sometimes excruciating, but always exciting and (if you're an NBA fan) thought-provoking. I'll definitely remember the 2010 NBA Celtics for Good and Bad.
- The 30-Day Countdown to Season 4 of Mad Men has begun.
- The NCAA Tournament. Perhaps the most exciting NCAA Tournament in the history of college basketball. There were too many buzzer beaters, under achieving and mediocre teams to count. Who knew that mediocrity would ever lead to excitement?
- The neverending efforts of Janelle Sing, which can also be seen here and here. I'm telling you all: never stop working at those creative endeavors. If you don't stop, you'll never lose.
- Tinkers by Paul Harding. I can not say enough about this book. Just read it please.
- The Wall Street Ferry to Yankee Stadium. Who knew?
- Ms. Farrell being added to the Mad Men website. Meaning, hopefully, that America's new hearthrob (at least in my mind) will be a big part of Season 4.
- Brinsley Schwartz's version of "What's So Funny ('Bout Peace, Love and Understanding)?"
- Landon Donovan's goal. C'mon.
- Newport, RI.
- John Williams' Stoner. An excerpt: "In his extreme youth Stoner had thought of love as an absolute state of being to which, if one were lucky, one might find access; in his maturity he had decided it was the heaven of a false religion, toward which one ought to gaze with an amused disbelief, a gently familiar contempt and an embarassed nostalgia. Now in his middle age he began to know that it was neither a state of grace nor an illusion; he saw it as a human act of becoming, a condition that was invented and modified moment by moment and day by day, by the will and the intelligenct and the heart."
- Treme. One of the best stories about a city since Ulysses. Including a very "Wandering Rocksesque" Episode.
- Blitzen Trapper's fifth album Destroyer of the Void.
- The cover art for the new Walkmen album, Lisbon.
- The beach.
- Rondo's diving steal/layup against the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals.
- Air.
- The Garnett to Pierce to Rondo play in the 2010 NBA Finals.
- The smell of a tree.
- Mad Men Season 4 coming on July 25, 2010.
The Bad:
- Kobe Bryant's performance in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals.
- Backlash to the Lost series finale. C'mon it was just a show. It had Sayeed and Sawyer and Hurley and Jack and Kate and Mr. Eko and Locke and Desmond and Ben Linus and the Smoke Monster and Boone and Shannon and Libby and Vincent the Dog and Michael and Walt and...
- Time. It's always just passing isn't it? So depressing.
- The Lebron James sweepstakes.
- The oil spill. C'mon.
- The phantom penalty/offsides called against the U.S. in the Slovenia Game. Awful. We all thought basketball was bad.
- My exclusion from the Top 20 Writers Under 40 List published by the New Yorker.
- Mad Men being overshadowed by the attention given to Breaking Bad. Just you wait until Season 4.
- The commercials for ABC's summer programming.
- The fact that I am not a TV writer when ABC is pumping out shows like The Gates and Rookie Blue. I'm not bitter but, c'mon that stuff is terrible.
- The New York State Government. Makes you long for the corrupt politics of Willie Stark, "Kingfish" Huey Long, or Boss Tweed. At least times were simpler.
- Apple Stores. That just has to be hell on earth, no?
- Michael Jordan's anti-semitic moustache.
- Hitting peak garbage smell season in New York City.
- The Haiti Earthquake.
And now, of course, it is THE UGLY:
Alright, my Puddlers. I should be back with another Puddles of My Podcast tomorrow. If not, have a great weekend. Enjoy the heat and enjoy the thunderstorms if they come. Watch the U.S. try to beat Ghana and make sure to vote on the newest Puddles of Poll on the sidebar of the blog. I do pay attention to what you have to say about the blog.
Until the next time.
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