The Bear, season 4
We had a very slow, uneventful weekend, which leaves this space open to discuss how S and I spent Thursday and Friday evenings: binging season four of The Bear. If you want the TLDR version: I liked it. Although it had some flaws and inconsistencies and did not match the first two seasons, it was a nice rebound from the uneven and divisive season three. Most importantly, it felt like there was momentum throughout the season, augmented visually by Uncle Jimmy’s countdown clock, reminding the restaurant’s crew when he would pull financial support and begin exploring options to unload the…
Friday Playlist
Several new songs by old artists this week. And some new songs by new artists. In other words, a normal week. “In The Sun” – Blondie We’ve had a little too much sun this week. It’s been miserable. This song makes me feel a little better about it. “Breakaway” – Been Stellar These kids keep cranking out good tracks. “Modern Man” – MORN Kick ass music from Wales! “Move Now” – Marshall Crenshaw One of my all-time favorite writers of pop songs is back with a new album of old tracks. From The Hellhole collects songs he released on vinyl…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 113
Chart Week: June 23, 1984 Song: “I’ll Wait” – Van Halen Chart Position: #32, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #13 for two weeks. I made my three-hour drive to Lexington, KY last Saturday morning solo. As it was also my birthday weekend, I thought the best way to celebrate would be to listen to an American Top 40 from June, 1984. Believe it or not, I could recall exactly what I was doing 41 years ago! Almost to the minute, even! This probably doesn’t surprise some of you. On the morning of June 23, 1984, my Little League…
Wednesday Links
I’ve started following Denny Carter in recent weeks and enjoy his perspective on politics and the general state of the world. The sub-head of this piece is perfect: Being an asshole is a choice. Free speech was meant to empower the powerless against the powerful, not to provide protection for society’s privileged members to hurl invective at the unprivileged and marginalized. The American right – and parts of the left – have twisted the idea of actual free speech into an unrecognizable mess that tells Americans they should have the right to say any insulting thing any time they want…
More Hoops Notes
A day later I still have a lot of Pacers thoughts. And I still need to catch you up on a very busy weekend. So this may turn into two posts, depending on how long I yap about the first topic. Pacers Followup I became a Pacers fan when we moved to Indy in 2003, but they have never been at the top of my sports fandom rankings.[1] Although they have climbed a lot over the past year! Still, when they lose I’m not as mad or upset as I am when KU loses, or when good Royals teams have…
Crushing
Sports can be unbelievably cruel sometimes. They can step up and make the worst possible thing happen in the worst possible time. That’s how the Indiana Pacers’ dream run through the postseason ended last night. Not because the favored Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the third quarter to turn a close game into a comfortable win, clinching their first NBA title. That was just normal sports, not an unexpected result at all. What was cruel was what Pacers fans had been fearing since the end of game two: Tyrese Haliburton’s achilles tendon rupturing as he attempted to drive past a…
Three Down…
OMG OMG OMG!!!! The Indiana Pacers are playing for the NBA championship Sunday night! Thursday was a wonderful night of professional basketball. At least if you are a Pacers fan. They started out slow, missing like their first 100 shots, and trailed 10–2. From then on it really wasn’t much of a game. The Pacers destroyed the Thunder in pretty much every way. Their defense was suffocating. They were ferocious rebounders. Their offense was locked in. It was the proverbial snowball turning into an avalanche, and the best team in the NBA this season was powerless to stop it. The…
Friday Playlist
Summer is here (officially)! The time is right… “Dancing In The Street” – Van Halen A lot of people shit on it, but this is one of my all-time favorite summer songs. “This Summer” – Sleigh Bells This track comes from an album called Bunky Becky Birthday Boy. Hint, hint. “Waawooweewaa” – OK Cool We need more songs titled after things Borat said. “Big Empty Heart” – Cardinals NOT Ryan Adams former backing band, but rather another excellent group from Ireland. “Incomprehensible” – Big Thief The first Big Thief song I’ve liked for quite a while. “drains” – mary in…
Great Eight Comedies
I’ve been busy trying to finish an amazing book and get some work outside done before storms roll through later. For today’s post I dug into my list of ideas and found this one, which has been sitting there since George Wendt died last month and news broke that there will be a Scrubs revival. With minimal commentary, here are my favorite TV comedies of all time. 1) Cheers A few years I went back and watched the early years and was amazed by how well they hold up. Same anytime I come across a clip. A perfect combination of…
A Bummer Of A Game Five
After a nearly two-month dream ride, the Pacers run might be over. It wasn’t just that they lost game five in Oklahoma City last night by 11, after trimming an 18-point deficit to two midway through the fourth quarter. It wasn’t just that they routinely threw the ball away. It wasn’t just that they missed open shots when they could hang on to the ball. It was more that Tyrese Haliburton played most of the game hobbled by whatever lower leg injury he has been dealing with the past couple weeks. It was allegedly an issue late in game two,…