11 Things That Are Better When Not Perfect

Fireworks

This year's Fourth of July brought the most breathtakingly gorgeous mistake in the history of fireworks when a technical glitch caused San Diego's display to go off all at once—in 60 seconds instead of the planned 17 minutes. (No one was hurt, thankfully.) Fireworks are already, well, fireworks: big, exciting, sparkly and fairly nonsensical. But there have never been ones like these, all in a heated, glowy, big-living burst of beauty, like the way your heart feels when you first see your baby's face: BOOM! The headiest of emotions, manifested in a minute-long opening/middle/finale. We've all seen plenty of fireworks, but this was a display no one will soon forget.