Mike O'Connell

This weekend I spent two days in Winchester, Virginia, at its annual Apple Blossom Festival. “The Bloom,” as the locals call it, is no joke, drawing tens of thousands to this otherwise two-bit town for a few days of diversion and merriment.

It’s good to see that in this crass and jaded world in which we now live there are certain glimmers of Americana for us to discover. Winchester is where real Americans live doing real American things in real American small towns. The festival is sort of a family-friendly version of Mardi Gras meets the Kentucky Derby. Sadly, though, I must report that within the last few years the locals did discover one trick the rest of the world learned years ago: that fair food and games should be as overpriced as they are in airports and wartime. (Joke was on them, though, as nice weather is still free.)

Kudos, Winchester, for another fine Bloom. See ya next year!

There are two things of which one can be sure in the year 2014: 1.) assume you’re being recorded and/or videotaped every moment of your life; and 2.) the P.C. police always wins.

Thanks, Commissioner, for making the easiest heroic decision of all time. And will Donald Sterling pull a Paterno and conveniently expire? The NBA can only hope.

In an unrelated story, my adopted hometown is changing its name from Sterling to Metta World Peace, Virginia.

Maybe I expected too much from Fargo.

Yeah, they’ve got me for however many episodes they put out this season, but I’ve decided the show is just not as good as I thought it would be. (No one even died in the last episode!)

Still, though, there’s enough star power and enough possibilities left for me to be pleasantly surprised, and perhaps secretly I plan to be.

Okay, okay, it’s been only two episodes, but this season’s episodes of Mad Men have left a bit to be desired. Somehow there are too many side plots, too many characters, and not enough Don Draper being awesome. “Stuck in neutral” is the phrase that comes to mind. Hopefully they’re gearing up for something big.

I can’t exactly say, “I’ve been waiting 18 years…,” because I never thought someone would actually make the movie Fargo into a TV series. But that someone has done, and bless them for it.

I don’t know exactly what to expect with Fargo. Just that it involves Billy Bob Thornton and is based on the Coen brothers movie of the same title. That’s good enough for me, and last night’s series premiere did not disappoint.

And thank you, world, for continuing to make entertaining things for me to watch on TV. Seriously.