Generally speaking, I'm happy to report that this year's Super Bowl ads weren't as violent as last years. The worst exceptions came from Doritos, Pepsi Max and HomeAway (what's that?). That level of viciousness isn't just for championship football games anymore, so I'll mention them again in a later post.
I won't offer further comment on either the Skechers ad with Kim Kardashian or the GoDaddy spots. With sexism on that level, why is either company still in business? Oh, never mind; that question pretty much answers itself. Professor Chaos has a good overview of the worst of Super Bowl 45, none of which involved either the Packers or the Steelers. [The game wasn't the most exciting, but it was decently played. Both teams belonged.]
Apart from Steeler coach Mike Tomlin's mystifying decision to green-light a 52-yard field goal attempt, the on-field action actually pleased me. So, too, did some of the ads. Coca-Cola followed a 2007 spoof of Grand Theft Auto with a hilarious parody of Warcraft and its MMORPG cousins. Volkswagen had a funny bit about a kid trying hard to be Darth Vader (yeah, I was that kid once).
The ad that's going to stick with me for a while, though, is this one from Chrysler:
Whatever it intended, Chrysler didn't pitch cars; it pitched the city of Detroit. So many bad things have happened there, it's become too easy for outsiders to imagine it as a Midwestern version of Kabul. But there are its landmarks, not just standing, but as beautiful as ever. [Especially the Diego Rivera murals.] Marshall Mathers is hardly my favorite performer (or person), but for an ad that was about both Detroit and defiance, his presence fit well as anyone else's could. It's one the most emotional commercials I've ever seen.
Update (10 February): The standard-length form of the Mathers Chrysler spot is now making the rounds. Along with the images and phrases the they found extraneous, the producers managed edit out most of the emotional power. That was inevitable, I suppose.
Enjoying the triumphant beat of a fantasy-football champion!
07 February 2011
06 February 2011
Super Bowl XLV: Can anyone in the Metroplex actually sing? Or mix?
I don't care for "The Star Spangled Banner" as a a song; but was it really necessary to butcher it as thoroughly as Christina Aguilera did in Cowboys Stadium tonight? Or was she just part of some al-Qaeda Westboro Baptist terrorist plot to annoy Americans?
As for the halftime show, I'd much rather have witnessed a wardrobe malfunction than the sound-mixing malfunctions that marred the Black-Eyed Peas' performance. That level of incompetence would have sunk musical ensembles that I like.
As for the halftime show, I'd much rather have witnessed a wardrobe malfunction than the sound-mixing malfunctions that marred the Black-Eyed Peas' performance. That level of incompetence would have sunk musical ensembles that I like.
Super Bowl XLV: Let's play!
I think the key is resilience. Both sides have been wildly inconsistent, not just from game to game, but from one quarter to the next. I've seen more detailed tactical analysis of the contestants than is good for me -- most of which managed to miss the fact that the winner will be the team that can string together four good quarters of football. The Packers have done that better than the Steelers, so they'll win tonight.
It may not even be close: Green Bay 30-13 Pittsburgh.
01 February 2011
Some reflections on John Barry (1933-2011)
In almost a hundred posts on this blog, I've somehow managed to avoid any mention of one of my passions, the movie soundtrack. A good score can make a bad movie tolerable; and, as John Williams demonstrated in The Empire Strikes Back, it can make a good movie one of its decade's best. If it weren't for Sam Spence's scores for NFL Films and its weekly highlight shows in the 1970s, I would probably have never developed any taste at all for music.
Superior scores are probably the best reason either Out of Africa (1985) or Dances with Wolves (1990) won an Oscar for Best Picture. Without the lush John Barry scores that also graced 11 James Bond movies and numerous other works over 40 years, Wolves might have still won on novelty1; but the execrable Africa would have had no chance. Barry's passing yesterday at age 77 brought to mind a couple of personal memories.
The theme from Born Free, which won John Barry his first two Oscars in 1966 (for both theme and overall score), might actually be my first memory, period. Kids gravitated towards the theme song, which finished twelfth on the 1966 Billboard Top 100. Even as a toddler, I couldn't get enough of it; and that only intensified once I became old enough to adore and admire thekitties lions in the movie itself. As I turned five years old, I kept wondering when it would next show up on TV. Several years would pass before I realized it, but Born Free's soundtrack was the first one I enjoyed for its own sake. (Barry's Bond scores to that point soon followed.)
His last Oscar came for the Dances with Wolves score, a cassette copy of which I owned a little over thirteen years ago. Along with almost all my other worldly possessions, that little tape was in the car I was driving to California. Day three of that moving trip stretched from the desolation of central Wyoming to the desolation of northern Nevada. Outside the environs of Salt Lake City and Reno, my listening choices on the radio were minimal. Whenever I encountered mountains, especially in Nevada, those choices dropped to nothing, not even classical-music NPR stations.
From Carlin, Nevada, Interstate 80 climbs into the last such dead zone, which includes the Emigrant Pass, a dual tunnel and, finally, the Twin Summits. At the western end of the zone, the road curves gently into one last hill.
As it happened that day in late January, I popped that Dances with Wolves cassette into my car's tape player. The first two cuts played as I crossed the dead zone. Then, at the top of the last hill, this played:
I could see the Interstate dropping into yet another vast, desolate plain, marred with the low ridges that define that part of Nevada. As the short prelude of low strings played on my stereo, the haze of the Summits made the ridges in the background appear as one. At exactly the moment the high strings cued in, the single ridge began splitting into its components, each ridge seeming to split from its neighbors. The timing between the music inside my car and the developing scenery outside was so exquisite, it made me believe in a higher power.
Somewhere far above, with John Barry as spokesman, God was welcoming me to the West.
Or not. The date was 22 January 1998. When NPR came back into listening range several minutes later, the first thing I heard was President Bill Clinton -- swearing to the nation that he "did not have sex with that woman."
1. Sioux civilians good, U.S. Army bad? Gasp!
The theme from Born Free, which won John Barry his first two Oscars in 1966 (for both theme and overall score), might actually be my first memory, period. Kids gravitated towards the theme song, which finished twelfth on the 1966 Billboard Top 100. Even as a toddler, I couldn't get enough of it; and that only intensified once I became old enough to adore and admire the
His last Oscar came for the Dances with Wolves score, a cassette copy of which I owned a little over thirteen years ago. Along with almost all my other worldly possessions, that little tape was in the car I was driving to California. Day three of that moving trip stretched from the desolation of central Wyoming to the desolation of northern Nevada. Outside the environs of Salt Lake City and Reno, my listening choices on the radio were minimal. Whenever I encountered mountains, especially in Nevada, those choices dropped to nothing, not even classical-music NPR stations.
From Carlin, Nevada, Interstate 80 climbs into the last such dead zone, which includes the Emigrant Pass, a dual tunnel and, finally, the Twin Summits. At the western end of the zone, the road curves gently into one last hill.
As it happened that day in late January, I popped that Dances with Wolves cassette into my car's tape player. The first two cuts played as I crossed the dead zone. Then, at the top of the last hill, this played:
I could see the Interstate dropping into yet another vast, desolate plain, marred with the low ridges that define that part of Nevada. As the short prelude of low strings played on my stereo, the haze of the Summits made the ridges in the background appear as one. At exactly the moment the high strings cued in, the single ridge began splitting into its components, each ridge seeming to split from its neighbors. The timing between the music inside my car and the developing scenery outside was so exquisite, it made me believe in a higher power.
Somewhere far above, with John Barry as spokesman, God was welcoming me to the West.
Or not. The date was 22 January 1998. When NPR came back into listening range several minutes later, the first thing I heard was President Bill Clinton -- swearing to the nation that he "did not have sex with that woman."
1. Sioux civilians good, U.S. Army bad? Gasp!
24 January 2011
Da Bears. Da cold. And: a new tag!
Last Friday, the thermometers here in Chicagoland dropped below zero degrees. Farenheit. The good news was that I had a heavy jacket ready to go. It kept me nice and toasty, even though I had to fill a gas tank in the deep freeze.
The bad news was that it was a Cleveland Browns jacket. I spent all day assuring the cashiers that, yes, I did have my orange Brian Urlacher jersey ready to go at 1400 Sunday afternoon. Well, it was, but I ended up wearing my super-spiffy Bears polo shirt instead.
Gotta dress properly on Sunday afternoon, don't ya know.
Anyway, it occurred to me that several of my football posts have involved uniforms and shirts, so now the blog gets a new main category for fashion. As before, these will concentrate on the sometimes awful things athletes wear on the field, and things fans wear to games, but it's still fashion.
Like all right-thinking Chicago Bears fans*, I was sad to see them lose last night's NFC title game to thatterrorist front NFL team from Wisconsin. Among the numerous failures from head coach Lovie Smith and quarterback Jay Cutler, the 21-14 loss was the most painful to endure.
First, there's Cutler's showing. I'm not talking about what he did on the field. That mess came as no surprise, given that the Packer defense had previously vexed his betters and caused the firing of two head coaches. It's Cutler's behavior after his injury-triggered benching that turned his performance into an epic FAIL. Instead of standing by his teammates and providing encouragement, he spent most of the second half sitting on the bench, alone, with his head hung low. Maybe the producers at FOX Sports were just messing with us Bears fans, but their images of Cutler on the bench are those of a quarterback who has lost his team. It was backup QB Caleb Hanie who rallied the Bears and rocked the Packers on their feet. He, not Jay Cutler, almost turned a blowout loss into a legendary game.
And Hanie would've done it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddling head coach of his. On the final drive, Hanie had his players lined up for a classic power sweep against a confused and unprepared Packer defense. Just as Matt Forte made the turn on a devastating third-down power sweep (oh, devastating irony!), the whistle blew, stopping the play.
Lovie Smith, Super Genius, had called a time out.
Instead of helping the Bears, that pause gave the Packer defense time to reorganize. Even worse, Smith changed his team's call into a disastrous pitch play to Chester Taylor that lost three yards. The next play was a desperate fourth-down pass that the Packers promptly intercepted, sealing the Bears' fate.
Aaarrrrrgh. D'oh. Crikey. It was Cutler and Smith at their worst, at the worst possible time.
Oh, well. I was expecting a 4-12 season from this group, so I'm happy the Bears got this far.
* Now there's a redundancy!
 |
| Super. Spiffy. Genius. |
Gotta dress properly on Sunday afternoon, don't ya know.
Anyway, it occurred to me that several of my football posts have involved uniforms and shirts, so now the blog gets a new main category for fashion. As before, these will concentrate on the sometimes awful things athletes wear on the field, and things fans wear to games, but it's still fashion.
Like all right-thinking Chicago Bears fans*, I was sad to see them lose last night's NFC title game to that
 |
| These are from last season, but they would've fit right in yesterday. |
And Hanie would've done it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddling head coach of his. On the final drive, Hanie had his players lined up for a classic power sweep against a confused and unprepared Packer defense. Just as Matt Forte made the turn on a devastating third-down power sweep (oh, devastating irony!), the whistle blew, stopping the play.
Lovie Smith, Super Genius, had called a time out.
Instead of helping the Bears, that pause gave the Packer defense time to reorganize. Even worse, Smith changed his team's call into a disastrous pitch play to Chester Taylor that lost three yards. The next play was a desperate fourth-down pass that the Packers promptly intercepted, sealing the Bears' fate.
Aaarrrrrgh. D'oh. Crikey. It was Cutler and Smith at their worst, at the worst possible time.
Oh, well. I was expecting a 4-12 season from this group, so I'm happy the Bears got this far.
* Now there's a redundancy!
13 January 2011
Tweet of the Month
I always regarded Patton Oswalt as a stand-up guy. True to form, he's responded to Sarah Palin's "blood libel" screed with this devastating tweet. You know, I might have to actually sign up for Twitter now.
02 January 2011
Victory Weighting: Live playoff blogging
Happy New Year! Today, I'm updating the playoff races as games end, using my Victory Weighting system.
14:53 CST: The Jets defeat Buffalo, 38-7. They finish at Strength 42 and 11-5, so they can still hope for a #5 seed. For that to happen, Pittsburgh would have to lose in regulation.
15:03 CST: While I'm waiting on another relevant game to go final, I should note that, under Victory Weighting, the St. Louis Rams would already be NFC West champions and a #4 seed. Their 29 Strength is guaranteed to be the best in their division. [Second-place Seattle could achieve, at best, Strength 28.]
Also, New England has had the AFC East and the AFC high seed locked up for a couple of weeks.
15:07 CST: Chiefs 10-31 Raiders. Kansas City finishes at Strength 40 and 10-6. They would fall to a #4 seed if Indianapolis wins.
15:09 CST: Baltimore and Pittsburgh both win in regulation. Both teams finish at 12-4, but Baltimore would win the AFC North and the first-round bye with Strength 47. Pittsburgh would get the #5 wild-card seed at Strength 46, leaving the New York Jets with the #6 spot.
Officially, Pittsburgh gets the division title and the bye. Barring some odd results in New Orleans, Green Bay and Washington, D.C., this will be the only instance this year where the Victory Weighted playoff seeds deviate from the actual ones. Oddly enough, this seems to happen every year with the Steelers and Ravens.
15:26 CST: One of the only two questions left in the NFC gets two answers, but needed only one. Atlanta beat Carolina, 31-10, clinching the NFC South title and the NFC high seed. As a result, Chicago locks up the #2 seed (and the other first-round bye), while New Orleans wraps up the #5 seed (and a first-round trip to St. Louis).
15:35 CST: Tampa Bay's 23-13 win at New Orleans leaves them at Strength 41 and 10-6, still alive for the last NFC playoff spot. It also closes out the New York Giants, who could finish with, at best, Strength 40.
Consequently, Green Bay (currently Strength 38 and 9-6) must beat Chicago in regulation to reach the playoffs. Even an overtime win would send Tampa Bay through instead.
18:06 CST: Green Bay wins, 10-3. With Strength 42, the 10-6 Packers take the last NFC playoff spot from Tampa Bay. They open the playoffs at Philadelphia.
18:08 CST: Jacksonville loses 34-14 at Houston. The Jaguars bow out of playoff contention, handing the AFC South title to Indianapolis.
18:10 CST: The Colts beat Tennessee, 23-20, on a last-second field goal. Indianapolis takes the #3 AFC seed, and will host the Jets next week. Kansas City slips to the #4 seed, to host Pittsburgh.
18:30 CST: That's it. Tonight's Rams-Seahawks game will decide the official NFC West champion, but has no bearing on the Victory Weighted playoff picture:
Oceania West title. St. Louis goes home, so Victory Weighting would have made another correction.
14:53 CST: The Jets defeat Buffalo, 38-7. They finish at Strength 42 and 11-5, so they can still hope for a #5 seed. For that to happen, Pittsburgh would have to lose in regulation.
15:03 CST: While I'm waiting on another relevant game to go final, I should note that, under Victory Weighting, the St. Louis Rams would already be NFC West champions and a #4 seed. Their 29 Strength is guaranteed to be the best in their division. [Second-place Seattle could achieve, at best, Strength 28.]
Also, New England has had the AFC East and the AFC high seed locked up for a couple of weeks.
15:07 CST: Chiefs 10-31 Raiders. Kansas City finishes at Strength 40 and 10-6. They would fall to a #4 seed if Indianapolis wins.
15:09 CST: Baltimore and Pittsburgh both win in regulation. Both teams finish at 12-4, but Baltimore would win the AFC North and the first-round bye with Strength 47. Pittsburgh would get the #5 wild-card seed at Strength 46, leaving the New York Jets with the #6 spot.
Officially, Pittsburgh gets the division title and the bye. Barring some odd results in New Orleans, Green Bay and Washington, D.C., this will be the only instance this year where the Victory Weighted playoff seeds deviate from the actual ones. Oddly enough, this seems to happen every year with the Steelers and Ravens.
15:26 CST: One of the only two questions left in the NFC gets two answers, but needed only one. Atlanta beat Carolina, 31-10, clinching the NFC South title and the NFC high seed. As a result, Chicago locks up the #2 seed (and the other first-round bye), while New Orleans wraps up the #5 seed (and a first-round trip to St. Louis).
15:35 CST: Tampa Bay's 23-13 win at New Orleans leaves them at Strength 41 and 10-6, still alive for the last NFC playoff spot. It also closes out the New York Giants, who could finish with, at best, Strength 40.
Consequently, Green Bay (currently Strength 38 and 9-6) must beat Chicago in regulation to reach the playoffs. Even an overtime win would send Tampa Bay through instead.
18:06 CST: Green Bay wins, 10-3. With Strength 42, the 10-6 Packers take the last NFC playoff spot from Tampa Bay. They open the playoffs at Philadelphia.
18:08 CST: Jacksonville loses 34-14 at Houston. The Jaguars bow out of playoff contention, handing the AFC South title to Indianapolis.
18:10 CST: The Colts beat Tennessee, 23-20, on a last-second field goal. Indianapolis takes the #3 AFC seed, and will host the Jets next week. Kansas City slips to the #4 seed, to host Pittsburgh.
18:30 CST: That's it. Tonight's Rams-Seahawks game will decide the official NFC West champion, but has no bearing on the Victory Weighted playoff picture:
NFC First Round: (6) Green Bay at (3) Philadelphia; (5) New Orleans at (4) St. Louis23:24 CST: Whoops. Seattle won the actual Sunday night game, and with it the NFC
AFC First Round: (6) New York Jets at (3) Indianapolis; (5) Pittsburgh at (4) Kansas City
NFC Byes: (1) Atlanta, (2) Chicago
AFC Byes: (1) New England, (2) Baltimore
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