Why 38? Because it’s my lucky number. And I couldn’t, for the life of me, get to 50 like NPR did. So here’s my 38 Reasons 2010 was pretty awesome. For me. OK, if not awesome, 2010 was at least better than the movie of the same name.
1. Brothers from the Black Keys. EASILY. The winner of the 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Music. When people ask me to tell them about my favorite coffee, rye whiskey, women and/or music, I’m thankful that I just have to say that I like them all bitter, dark and mysterious.
A sinister kid is a kid who
Runs to meet his Maker
A drop dead sprint from the day he's born
Straight into his Maker's arms
And that's me, that's me
The boy with the broken halo
That's me, that's me
The devil won't let me be
BOOM! That’s exactly the sort of work that will get you a Colby.
2. True Grit. The winner of the 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Film. A second consecutive win for Jeff Bridges. About the eleventieth win for the Coen Brothers. Even the ever-smarmy Matt Damon was spot on. He’s so smug.
3. Boardwalk Empire. The co-winner of the 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Television. It’s beautifully shot and beautifully costumed. On top of that, it’s a really fascinating premise that’s going to be a great sandbox for Marty to play in.
4. Mad Men. The co-winner of the 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Television. Yes. Yes. I have spent four years saying, “Why would I want to watch people on TV do my job worse than I do it?” But, then a funny thing happened and I watched all four seasons in a week and a half. Fifty-two episodes in ten days. The moment you first see Don Draper, you know this is the story of his redemption. (And if you’ve talked to me for more than an hour, you know “Redemption” is my favorite word, concept and story device.) Season four of Mad Men started out with a bunch of shots to the gut. I seriously can’t imagine having to wait a week to see how the next kick in the head was going to turn out. SO glad to have watched the season in about two days. And then, really out of nowhere, BOOM! Don’s redemption. Will it stick? Can’t wait to find out. Over some rye.
5. Old Spice (by Wieden + Kennedy). The winners of the 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Advertising. Another eleventy time Colby Award winner in W+K. And these spots + YouTube clips are so good, I awarded all my deodorant business to Old Spice. Without a review.
6. Nike’s BOOM TV Spot (by Wieden + Kennedy). Honorable mention for 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Advertsing. With the passion of a thousand fiery white suns, I hate every single active athlete in this spot. And it’s still fantastic.
7. Santacon.
9. Blogging over at Barking Carnival. I’m going to be completely honest and sincere for a second. I am and was greatly honored these guys let me in their clubhouse. And I am without surprise that I got so swamped at work that I couldn’t follow through with them and finish off my own little 20 by 20. But it gives me an offseason project. Once Texas has coaches again and people stop reading BC.
10. LEGO brand building block advent calendars. OK, so this is a great thing about every year.
11. BSE. You know it if you saw it.
12. Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest
13. Fucking! Greg! Fucking! Davis! Fucking! Got! His! Dumb! Fucking! Ass! Fucking! Fired!
Ten years too late, but Fuck! Yes!
14. Finally saw Lyle Lovett. At the Beacon Theatre, no less.
15. Finally saw a show at the Beacon Theatre. Lyle Lovett, no less.
16. Free keg Thursdays at Work. A wise and pasty Englishman once called these the springboard for the weekend. He’s right, but don’t tell him.
17. Starbucks Gold Card Status. BOOM!
18. Tim Tebow’s collegiate eligibility expired. This cannot be celebrated enough.
19. The New York Yankees didn’t win the World Series. This cannot be celebrated enough.
20. Juneteenth. A ten year old vow. A pack of friends. A champagne toast on the Main Mall.
21. Being more single than ever. Yeah. That, you’re goddamned right that gets a BOOM!
22. Will Muschamp finally got out from under Mack Brown’s shadow.
23. Kevin Durant became a legitimate basketball star. At the FIBA World Championships, he beat the entire world like they stole from him. He became the NBA’s youngest scoring champion ever at 21. Most importantly, Kevin Durant didn’t change one bit because of it all.
24. Cee-Lo The singer, not the Longino.
25. My Skullcandy Chrome FMJs They sound great and they’re shiny chrome, which means when they’re in, even knucklehead tourists and the craziest of subway crazies can see them and leave you alone. BOOM!
26. This OK Go video
27. Making it to Arielle Kaspar’s second birthday party.
28. ESPN’s 30 for 30. Pony Exce$$, Run, Ricky, Run, Once Brothers and The Best That Never Was are some of the best documentaries you will ever see.
29. Claire Danes in Temple Grandin.
30. Plastic Beach from the Gorillaz. If they’re not the best animated band of our generation, I don’t know who is.
31. All Day from Girl Talk. I don’t know what you call this. I don’t know if I should admit to liking it. But holy baby Tim Tebow wrapped in swaddling football pads, this is fun stuff.
32. Stuxnet. The greatest news story not enough people are talking about.
33. The 2010 Colby Award for Achievement in Sports goes to … no one. I’m really hard pressed to come up with anything sporting wise that I liked about 2010. World Cup? Nope. World Series? Eh. I like Lincecum enough to ape his hair, but, eh. NBA Finals? Hell no. Super Bowl? No. Texas Football? Losing 8 games in 2010 doesn’t really blow my skirt up. Texas basketball? HA! Texas baseball? Nearly overcame our annual seeding hose job from the NCCA. Nearly. Seriously, Kevin Durant might easily be this year’s lone highlight. I’d like to be proven wrong here.
34. I made my first trip to the Met. What I know about art can easily be placed on one side of an index card. You probably know this. That said, WOW. BOOM! Whatever. I’ll be back.
35. I was within 20 feet of a Rolling Stone (if you count Chuck Leavell as a Rolling Stone, and you should). Unfortunately, Keith Urban was there, too. Did I mention Keith needs a TelePrompter to get the lyrics to Tumblin’ Dice?
36. As of midnight, I become a free agent in the cell phone game. Hello, Droid. Hello, iPhone. Hello, Windows Phone. Who wants me more? Yes, BlackBerry, you’re name is missing. Must be for a reason, no?
37. I made a lot of new, great friends this year. Look, old timers, don’t take this the wrong way. You’ve done your time and you deserve your own praise, but 2010 was a really good year for adding new people. I’d love to get you all in a room sometime. I think you’d all dig each other.
38. No emergency vet trips. I really think Rads and I made it the entire year without one emergency trip to the vet. No broken tail. No mystery germs from the dog park. No bladder stones. No broken eye lid. Yes, those all really happened before.
There you go. And now. I’m pouring myself a little whiskey and laughing at the amateur drinkers falling all over the sidewalks tonight.
You stay classy, internet.
