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So, the game itself turned out rather boring. I really wasn’t rooting for either side, but then I started rooting for Pittsburgh (because Seattle just doesn’t have that aura of history’s-on-your-side and blue color honor and all that), but then thought a few calls were bad – or at least my brother pointed out that the calls were lousy (was it me, or were those refs really working too hard for Pittsburgh? I mean, those Pittsburgh Steelers got pushy toward the Seahawks guys).

The opening ceremony, honoring the MVP’s of the past 39 Super Bowls was interesting (I mean, wow, how many MVP’s came out for this? That was sure cool of them to do that). It was apparently a good moment for Lynn Swann, the past MVP who had the biggest cheers from the mostly Pittsburgh fans in the stadium (and notably, he’s trying to get the Republican nomination to become governor of Pennsylvania).

Plenty of analysis on the ads:

Reuters has this assessment that the ads played a little safe.

And, there’s the NY Times’ Stuart Elliott – witty and to the point.

The Washington Post, on MSNBC.com. And, even Time magazine. We’re all obsessed with the ads. And, there’s Seth Stevenson of Slate’s “Ad Report” – giving a cranky assessment.

Seriously, I got so bored with the game, I pretty much watched for the commercials during the three quarters. Fourth quarter, I was just waiting for “Grey’s Anatomy.” My assessment goes like this, below:

I was repulsed by the Burger King commercial. Never mind Burger King, who is weird enough – but the Whopperettes jumping atop of each other to form a Whopper – that’s just stupid. I know it was a parody of the old-fashioned Hollywood extravanganza, but it got silly so badly. In fact, it made me not want to eat a Whopper. I assume that’s not what Burger King wants me to do.

Sierra Mist commercial – with comedians Kathy Griffin and Jim Gaffigan as airport security people who remove a guy of his Sierra Mist – well, I got the point, but I didn’t think it was funny.

Fed Ex – the Neanderthal employee who tried to send a package by pterodactyl. Only, he can’t. Subtitles. His boss grunts that he should’ve sent it by Fed Ex. Employee grunts back that it doesn’t even exist yet. Boss grunts: “Not my problem” and fires employee. Employee leaves the cave office, kicks a lizard, and then he himself gets squashed by a giant elephant. Strangely funny. And, the boss – well, haven’t we all had nutty bosses?

The Aleve commercial with Leonard Nimoy – so, he’s at a Star Trek convention, but can’t do the Vulcan Live Long and Prosper hand sign because of his arthritis. Fortunately, the Aleve kicks in, so he can make his convention audience (and himself) feel relieved. Well, ok, so I’m a Trekkie and therefore I’m already biased to like the commercial. But, it was nice and funny! (kind of like how the Priceline.com commercial where Nimoy dropped in on Shatner was funny). And, it makes a point about the product. (and, it feels weird, but wow, that’s brave of Nimoy to go ahead and do an ad about his having arthritis).

I liked the Careerbuilder.com ads – “Yeah, I work for monkeys.” “I understand; I work for jackasses…” There’s something about animals that give me a laugh. And, reminds us about the problem of gainful but irritating employment and thinking about what ought we to do about it.
The Dove ad – which apparently is about encouraging girls to have positive body images – well, I think it was well-intentioned, so I’m not down on it as the professional critics have been. But, I think the problem is that no one felt comfortable seeing it in the middle of the Super Bowl.

The Fidelity (?) insurance ad with Sir Paul McCartney – see, I like the ad – but the problem is that it’s not original. It’s been on for quite awhile. And, it’s not like he’s doing half-time (he did it last year).
I liked the Mastercard MacGyver ad. Even better: it actually had Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver doing his whole save-the-world-with-tube-socks-and-paper-clips. Hell, he could use the Mastercard to stop a bomb for all I care.

The beer commercials were adequately amusing. GoDaddy’s ad was as stupid as last year’s – with the near naked woman and the foolish men (I won’t even link to it – and I still don’t know what is GoDaddy). There were the funny mortgage company ads, but like the critics said – the problem is, I still don’t know who’s that company that sponsored those ads. Pepsi ads with P.Diddy, Jackie Chan, and Jay Mohr – umm, sort of okay. I guess. Not like I’ll drink Pepsi. And, that Ford ad with Kermit – well, at least Kermit’s still cute.

Rolling Stones doing half-time – well, familiar music’s okay, I guess. But, I was surprised by the story that ABC censored some stuff. I mean, come on – these guys are in their 60’s – they’ve been risque for quite awhile. If the red states become upset, the only response would be: where have you been the last 40 years?
“Grey’s Anatomy” was the post-Super Bowl show. It got over-dramatic with crazy plot stuff (the show’s so much better with character development – then again, it’s not like anyone was acting out of character, so the character moments were still great) – as it would be when one is after the Super Bowl. (ABC did it to Alias, when it had its post-Super Bowl episode). Newsday does a nice profile, for those who don’t know “Grey.”
Whisper it now: Code Black. (yeah, right, like hospitals really have such a thing; do major cities?). It was weird to see Kyle Chandler (the ex-nice guy of “Early Edition”) be the bomb squad guy in “Grey’s Anatomy.” I forgot he’s good-looking, in his own boy scout kind of way. In one of my posts, I theorized that Meredith Grey ought to have a CIA agent boy-toy; bomb squad guy isn’t off the mark… (assuming that even happens; Grey still not over Dr. McDreamy – but, he’s played by Patrick Dempsey, so who can blame her?)… 😉

The Super Bowl episode left us in a cliff-hanger – just like that – “What?! No, wait, you can’t do that!” – so, stay tuned for next time…

Oh, and last but not least: Jo Foxworth, the lady behind the D’Agostino jingle “Please, Mr. D’Agostino, move closer to me,” passed away. Her obit describes her career as fascinating, a true woman pioneer of a male-dominated ad industry.

Sorry to have missed you while you were in town, YC.  Sounds like you guys had a great time back in the city!

Friday: my co-workers and I went to Rain, in time for Restaurant Week. We ended up not eating off of the Restaurant Week menu, but off the regular menu, which had some nice items. A side of pineapple fried rice was quite tropical and refreshing. One colleague had Thai bouillabaisse, which looked good. The ambiance was nice, although if you really want to press me, I’ll say that the music was a bit loud.

The weather has been incredibly mild. 40’s/50’s. Weird winter.

The passing of Betty Friedan, the author of “Feminine Mystique” and feminist. Slate’s Emily Bazelon, a relative of Friedan, posts a tribute.

The passing of Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis. Yahoo has a slightly different version of the AP obit, wherein Grandpa Munster’s age is a bit in question.

MSNBC has this article on the curious so-called “nerd culture” of Japan. I read a similar article in the NY Times Magazine some year or two ago, and I still came out feeling weird and icky. I’ve no problem with nerds or their fascination with technology and anime. But, the erotic nature gets – like I said – icky. I mean, living with a life-size anime female doll?:

The nation has long nurtured a fascination with artifice — think bonsai, rock gardens or even gadgets like talking vending machines. Otaku [the “nerd” culture] have married that with the deep affection for innocence, which sometimes leads to young girls being viewed as sex symbols. [….]

The phenomenon is seen by many as a troubling deviation, reflecting a loss of confidence among youth and a Japanese aversion to personal conflict — typified by the estimated 1 million social recluses known as “hikikomori.” Some critics link the fascination with female characters to crimes targeting young girls.

“Because of fear of being rejected or disliked, people turn to anime characters or idols that pose no personal conflict,” said psychologist Rika Kayama. “But there is a danger. … Otaku who live in the fantasy world of anime often give little thought to how they may look to others.” [….]

The article then goes on to refer to its subject, a man who lives with his life-size dolls, combs their hair, and adore that they’re his dream girls. No intentions of marrying or even dating (real) girls. Umm, ok. Sure.

On a more pleasant note, there’s this Ford press release. Yeah, sure, the company’s losing jobs, but Kermit the Frog will be in Ford’s commercials for the Super Bowl game.

And, last but not least, this nice article on the Brooklyn bagel place, “F-Line Bagels,” that had been in a trademark dispute with the MTA (because the MTA didn’t like it that the owner used the “F” symbol of the F subway). The bagel place man went with a reversed F, and therefore possibly avoiding another trademark dispute. Smart move. And, boo to the MTA – how could anyone be confused about this one guy’s use of the “F” – obviously not MTA-approved and wouldn’t be confused for MTA (besides his being underneath the F line).

Saw the tail end of the Pixar exhibit at the MoMA on Friday. The best part is the Zoetrope – a carousel of Toy Story figures that animate when rotated really fast and flashed with a strobe light. It’s on the second floor at the rear of the movie – you can stand on the step in front of the Zoetrope to get a raised view of the movie, and then turn around when it activates. Recommended – catch it before it’s over, and appreciate why it is the new future of Disney.

I’ve upgraded the blogging software to the latest and greatest WordPress 2.01 software. It only took about half an hour to back everything up, upload the update, and then do the final configuation. It looks great so far. The biggest improvement is the graphical article editor that gives a nice What You See Is What You Get window. Let me know what you think.

New Justice Alito is already shaking things up by voting not to overturn an execution stay in Missouri, to the condersation of Thomas and Scalia. State of the Union? (Slate) Somebody is confusing the war on terror with the war on drugs.

This week is dragging — looking forward to the Extra Large Superbowl. And yes, I’m going for the unproven but not to be underestimated Seattle. I’ve been to and like Seattle. I don’t know anything about Pittsburgh.

Oh, and take a moment to note the passing of Coretta Scott King. A bit on her legacy, on MSNBC and in the NY Times.

The confirmation and swearing in of J. Alito. What this means for the country for the next 30 years – well, we do live in interesting times, even as we seem to transition from the Civil Rights era to an era of a curious future.

Okay, so I did some channel-changing tonight (remote in my hands, not the men of the house). I pretty much stuck with the NBC coverage of the speech, since I thought the ABC coverage was bothersome – Liz Vargas passing it on to Charles Gibson, who passes it on to Diane Sawyer, who passes it back to Liz, who then talks to Terry Moran for Nightline tonight. Umm, can we please have one voice, the clear leader for the coverage? On NBC, Brian Williams was the clear one voice, and on CBS, Bob Schieffer is the clear one voice. It doesn’t have to be an authoritarian voice (Bob’s a folksy sort, who clearly enjoyed the night, and said that it’s his highlight, anyway; Brian was the one who says it’s a grand ritual). Just one voice. The ABC coverage felt an awful lot like its current Nightline stuff – a cacophony of too many chefs in the kitchen.

But, I liked how everyone on ABC did get to pull their punches in pointing out the flaws of the President’s speech. Martha Raddatz, as the White House correspondent (and former Pentagon correspondent) did a great, sharp analysis. Fareed Zakaria as a talking head was pretty on the point, too, over the lack of originality in the President’s foreign policy segment. Charles Gibson steered things along. Kept wishing a little more from Liz Vargas, but oh well. ABC felt like a work in progress, missing the usual polish of the past (at least, the polish as it was under the Peter Jennings era).

The newspapers will present an interesting read tomorrow, no doubt.

How exciting. 9pm – A “political ritual,” NBC’s Brian Williams says. Indeed. J. Alito has been confirmed and he’s present, in robes and all, along the sides of Ch.J. Roberts, J. Thomas, and J. Breyer. NY Congressman Elliot Engel got himself a nice seat, so you can see him shaking the hands of the Cabinet. These are the moments where you pick and choose who you can identify in the crowds. Senator Frist, Senator Feingold, Secretary Norm Mineta, etc. Ooh.

Let’s see if the substance measures up to the grandeur of the ritual. Well…

Dodgeball.com: this Google-owned site turns your cell phone into something like location-enabled AIM. You set which of 27 cities it supports, and you can let your friends know where you are using SMS email. You can also try to find a bar or restaurant by sending the name, and it will return the address. I’ve signed up.

Farecompare.com: you provide two cities, and it tells you not only which airline has the cheapest flight, but on which days and flights you can actually use the fare, and the fare basis code, which is what you need to have a travel agent actually issue the fare. Great!

Portableapps.com: Site where you can find portable versions of open source apps that you can save on your memory stick and run anywhere, taking your preferences and data with you.