Random Thoughts (02/24/11--02/28/11) featuring The 2011 Oscars, 30 Rock and Charlie Sheen's Lunacy

James Franco and Anne Hathaway, hosts of the forgettable 83rd Academy Awards.


RANDOM THOUGHTS:

We have a lot of things to get to this evening. The Oscars were on last night, and as one of the 30 million poor bastards to end up watching this horribly produced telecast, I do have some opinions (and, for that matter, complaints) to get to. All of the four big Thursday night comedies aired last week, which means that I have a new edition of the power rankings ready to go. And then there were the thoughts over the past weekend that had to do with people like Forest Whitaker, Joel McHale, and others. So, let's get started immediately, shall we? The following were on my mind between Thursday, February 24th and Monday, February 28th:

- Look, I knew from the beginning that this year's Oscars would disappoint, but I didn't expect it to be THAT bad. I mean, my goodness, where to begin? For starters, the writing was pretty weak, as it usually is when a non-comedian hosts the awards show, and the planning of the show seemed ill-conceived. Second, James Franco was even worse as a host then I expected for him to be (so much so, in fact, that David Letterman's hosting job looked comparable to Jon Stewart's in 2008). I mean, at least Anne Hathaway was very enthusiastic and tried her best to make the show's poor writing at least enjoyable, too much in fact. Franco looked most of the time that he didn't want to be there, making lazy jokes and not even bothering to even look at Hathaway at times. You could tell that even the audience were beginning to hate the ceremonies when Billy Crystal arrived and everyone gave him a standing ovation like he was going to save the day, even though his bit ended up being as bad as the rest of the show.

Furthermore, why try to appeal to the younger demographic with Hathaway and Franco in order to hide from the fact that it was going to be a three hour tribute to "The King's Speech" while proclaiming that this was going to be the young and hip Oscars, and then show footages and images from old Oscar winners and Oscars telecasts in general? From the minute they started this poorly directed and designed "tribute" with little scenes from "Gone with the Wind" shown way downstage, I got a little bit confused. Finally, I felt that the moment where a dead Bob Hope introduced Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law was incredibly poor taste, and one of the lowest moments that I've seen the Academy Awards doing in years. During one of the many minutes during the telecast wasted on pointless speeches, ABC announced that they renewed the broadcasting rights of the show through 2020. Let's hope that they start they're new commitment off right with a decent 2012 awards show. Might I suggest Tina Fey as the next host, or Justin Timberlake?

Anyways, here are some other thoughts that I had on the awards:
a. Admit it, 94 year old Kirk Douglas is basically the live action Abraham Simpson, isn't he?
b. About the Melissa Leo speech: I wasn't so much mad at her F-bomb that many other people seem to be (I actually thought that was pretty genuine and slightly sincere), but rather on how surprised she looked that she won. Yes, I know that Hailee Steinfeld was gaining some buzz over the past few days, but it's not like this was the first award she won during this past awards season. Over the past few weeks, she has won the Golden Globe, the SAG, the New York Film Critics Award the Broadcast Film Critics Association award for the same category that she won last night, just to name a few. I'm pretty sure that she could have at least written something up before her name was called instead of looking like she was some huge underdog.
c. At least the ending with PS 22 was nice, right?
d. Oh, David Seidler! How can I possibly not like you for winning the Best Original Screenplay award over Christopher Nolan when you're speech was so fantastic? This is why the world needs good writers, people?
e. I like how when Ricky Gervais made fun of Robert Downey Jr. at the Golden Globes, everyone in Hollywood thought it was in poor taste, but when Jude Law mocked RDJ in very similar fashion last night everyone seemed to laugh and enjoy it.
f. During Sandra Bullock's presentation of the nominees for Best Actor, she called Jesse Eisenberg's performance captured "the spirit of a generation" . At first I was puzzled, but then I got to thinking and it actually makes sense! After all, Eisenberg did play a narcissistic asshole.
g. One of the few things that I enjoyed about this awards show was that they didn't allow for the audience to clap during the "In Memoriam" portion and instead wait until the montage is all over. I always felt that the tradition felt like some dead people popularity contest.
h. Of all of the awards won, I thought that Tom Hooper wining Best Director over David Fincher was the biggest mistake of the night. Don't get me wrong, Hooper did just fine in "The King's Speech" (the movie did end up winning Best Picture, after all). But he was helped by an extraordinary cast and an Academy Award winning script by Seidler. But to reiterate what I wrote yesterday, Fincher had the difficult task of trying to make a movie about Harvard nerds sitting in front of a computer and creating a website interesting, and he did it exceptionally. I would figure that the Academy would at least take that into consideration. But then again, I guess it seemed pretty obvious that Hooper was going to win from the moment that he won the DGA award (an award that has correctly predicted 90% of the Best Director winners since the late 1940s).
i. Yes, "The King's Speech" won Best Picture. And, yes, it was a pretty good movie, don't get me wrong. But I'm just going to say right now that if I were to ever look back at the movies to come out in the year 2010 in the future (say, a decade from now) I will most likely remember it as the great year in film that brought out such classics as "Inception," "The Social Network," and "Toy Story 3" among others. "The King's Speech," meanwhile, will probably just become a nice little sidenote in my nostalgic look back while also joining films like "Slumdog Millionaire," "Shakespeare in Love" and "Around the World in 80 Days" as Best Picture winners that didn't deserve it.
j. 8-2 picking the major awards for the second year in a row (Oh, Best Original Screenplay category! Why must you be so uncomplimentary yet again?) Maybe it's about time that I start using this Oscar luck for actual monetary purposes rather than for some recreational activity.

Can't wait to see the slate of movies to come out during the rest of 2011! Now, let's keep this program rolling...

- What happened to you, Forest Whitaker? One moment, you were winning an Oscar for Best Actor and now you're starring in the God-awful "Criminal Minds" spinoff, "Suspect Behavior"? My how the mighty have fallen!

- I honestly believe that, instead of the D.A.R.E. program, elementary and middle schools should instead show news stories of the Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson escapades during the past three years. I know that I would've been more prone to stay off drugs than had some non-threatening lion mascot gave me reasons as to why I shouldn't do it.

- I hate what Hulu has become these days. It used to be a wonderful little website that allowed you to watch a bunch of full episodes of your favorite NBC Universal, FOX and Disney shows the day after it aired, free, with only one commercial that never lasted past 30 seconds. Now, it's become a website that shows a minimum two commercial per breaks, shows that wait up to a month to air an episode (ex: "House" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") and makes you even pay a fee to watch some of their episodes. Thank goodness that I have a DVR to save the day.

- Oh, Joel McHale! Everything about you, from your character on "Community" to your jokes on "The Soup" just screams "douchebag" and "asshole," and yet I still enjoy watching him, nonetheless.

- My NBC Thursday Night Comedies Power Rankings for the episodes that aired on 02/25:
1. "30 Rock"- "TGS Hates Women" (40 points)
For the first time in a while, I actually laughed and enjoyed a "30 Rock" episodes more than any of the other Thursday night comedies to air the rest of the night. There were plenty of great one-liners, as all good "30 Rock" episodes do, and there were many parts of the episodes that I really enjoyed. The opening period jokes that ended with Liz getting her period and reacting by firing the entire staff was hysterical, Cristin Milioti and Chloe Moretz were great in their respective role, and the big reveal as to why Abby Grossman became Abby Flynn was totally unexpected. And the scenes with Jack Donaghy and Hank Hooper's granddaughter? Pure comedy gold! Not a bad rebound for a stretch of episodes that I thought were not as good compared to the other three shows.
2. "Parks and Recreations"- "Indianapolis" (30 points)
Just a fun episode to watch, especially when the episode either took place in the Snakehole or involved Ron Swanson in his quest to find some good ass steak in the big city. Overall, a nice wrap to one of the show's best six episode stretches ever.
3. "The Office"- "Todd Packer" (25 points)
One of the funniest episodes of the season, and one that actually felt like a classic 'Office' episode. So why do I have this ranked so low? Well, David Koechner, for one, who basically dragged down the rest of the show. I felt that the scenes without him and ones that dealet with the reaction to his return were more enjoyable than scenes with him general. The second was the Pam B-story, which I found to be off at times. But because I felt their good moments outweighed their bads, I'm giving it a 25 instead of the regular 20 that I would have given a 3rd place episode.
4. "Community"- "Intro to Political Science" (15 points)
I don't know. On one hand, I did enjoy the great Easter egg that was the Greendale College Circuit TV Channel's bottom news bar, and the Abed subplot was pretty cute. On the other hand, I have seen just how good of an episode "Community" can make this season, and this was not one of them. But then again, when you have been on a roll like the show has been for the past month and a half, I suppose that you are allowed to have a few bumps on the roads once in a while. What did you think, Magnitude?

"Pop, pop!"

Delightful. Now, here is my current season tally after six weeks of new episodes from all four shows:
1. "Parks and Recreations"- 200 points
2. "Community"- 180 points
3. "The Office"- 165 points
4. "30 Rock"- 150 points
Despite the fact that "30 Rock" had a big bounce back in the points this week with their first solo 1st place finish of the year, it still only ended up gaining only 10 points on 1st place comedy "Parks and Recreations," and are officially trailing the show by fifty. "Community," meanwhile, after being oh so close to finally gaining that #1 spot ended up having an episode that I thought was one of their bottom five this season, so they have fallen behind by 15 points. "The Office," meanwhile continues to roll along in the middle of the pack as it has seemed to be doing all winter long. All four comedies are off for the next two weeks, so don't expect the power rankings to return until March 21st at the earliest (following the return of comedy on NBC primetime March 17th). Until then, this is mj15 saying: did you know that you can make napalm out of common dishsoap and catfood? It's true!

More random thoughts to come this Thursday. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to try to find any other footage of 94 year old Kirk Douglas doing any other public appearances. This man right now is comedy gold in the making.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15





If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

Want Some Oscar Picks? And a New End of the Week, Too? Great! (a.k.a. Blog #274)

Will tonight's Academy Awards feature moments as memorable as Sally Fields' "You really like me!" speech in 1985?

The Academy Awards, as I assume you already know by now, will (at last) be telecast live to the world tonight. Anne Hathaway and James Franco will be the host of this week's occasion, so there's going to be a very good chance that the entire opening segment will consist of some sort a musical number. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there will be at least another musical act after recent revelationsyears have shown Anne Hathaway and James Franco to be, well, not funny. But enough about them, let's get into the real reason that we talk about the Oscars, which are the award nominees and possible winners. Because I felt that my Oscar picks from last year went pretty well overall, here now ,for the second consecutive year, are my predictions for all of the major awards going into tonight's telecast, and reasons as to why I chose them. Now, I must warn you, the majority of these picks are not based on the fact that I watched the movies or the actors performed and enjoyed them, as I only watched six new movies total that came out in 2010 ("Toy Story 3," "Inception," "The Social Network," "The King's Speech," "The Town" and, don't judge me, "Megamind). So expect to see a lot of these picks to be based on either what happened in previous awards shows from the last three or four months, recent Oscar history, and things that I read online. But, hey, if I went 8 out of 10 last year, I'm sure that this strategy should work again this year.

Here we go...

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Will Win: "Inside Job"
The documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" may be heading to this awards show with the most money grossed and the buzz thanks to the speculation as to whether or not anonymous street artist and the film's director, Banksy, will be appearing at the awards show (and if he does, then will he reveal his true identity or wear some sort of monkey mask?), but I still think that it will be this movie that will take home the prize. It's one of the best reviewed movies of the year (98% according to Rotten Tomatoes) and I have a feeling that the Academy will prefer a well made movie about the 2008 financial crisis over the possibility of a man wearing a monkey suit on stage.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Will Win: "Toy Story 3"
Not only was this the best animated movie of the year, but it is arguably the best film of 2010, period. It also has the Pixar factor going for them (the film studio has won this category every year since 2007) and it's the only movie out of the other nominees to get nominated for Best Picture. Seeing this movie not win the award would be not only the biggest upset of the night but one of the biggest Oscar upsets ever.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will Win: Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
The man created one of the most jaw dropping, entertaining and innovative movies of the year from his own imagination. Surely, the Academy won't screw him out of this award like they screwed him from a Best Director nomination, will they? Ah, who am I kidding! Of course they can, and they probably will, by giving it to David Seidler, too! Bastards.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will Win: Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network"
This one was a no-brainer. Along with the wonderful cast, Sorkin's writing was the major highlight of the film. Besides, he won the Golden Globe and the WGA Award for this category, two usually reliable sources in predicting who is going to win this category.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will Win: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"
Hmm, let's see: Screen Actors Guild Award? Check. Golden Globe? Check. Satellite Award? Check. At least twenty other critics association awards? Check. Although I do believe that Geoffrey Rush is a major dark horse in this category (and, really, the only challenger for this award), I'm still fairly confident that it will be Bale to take home this prize. I can't say the same thing about how I think his acceptance speech will go, though.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Will Win: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
This category seems to be the most open out of the rest of the ones that I've mentioned or will mention later. On one hand, you have Melissa Leo, who won the Golden Globe for this category. But on the other hand, you have "The Fighter" co-star Amy Adams who many say were as good, if not better than Leo. And then there's Hailee Steinfeld, who was not only the leading actress in "True Grit" (instead of just supporting) but is also placed in a category that tends to reward up-and-comers. So while Steinfeld is an especially tempting choice, I'm going to stick with the woman that has been the favorite this whole time, which is Leo. However, I won't be very surprised if she ends up with the shorthand. By the way, all this talk about Leo has made me even happy about the fact that the second season of "Treme," of which she has a prominent role in, premieres in less than two months. That was a well-acted show in its first season, and I hope that the cast doesn't disappoint in season two.

BEST ACTRESS
Will Win: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Whereas the Best Supporting Actress category remains wide open, the Best Actress category has been pretty locked up for weeks.Not only has she been the Christian Bale of this category in terms of victories during other major and minor award shows, but according to prolific film critic Roger Ebert, she tended to have more scenes in which she was able to act out in emotional ways, whether it was feeling scared, insecure or batsh*t insane like during the end, which the Academy tends to really like. Really well deserved, too, as her acting in that movie was brilliant.

BEST ACTOR
Will Win: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
Last year, Firth (who was nominated for his performance in "A Single Man") took a backseat during the ceremonies as Jeff Bridges ended up being one to take this award for his performance in "Crazy Heart." This year, it's going to be another way around with Firth taking the award for Bridges and other worthy nominees that include James Franco for "127 Hours" and Jessee Eisenberg for "The Social Network." According to Wikipedia, he has won roughly 80% of all his previous nominations during awards season, and, let's face it, Hollywood tends to love people with British accent who tend to portray British royalty very well. After all, just ask Helen Mirren, or even Charles Laughton's corpse. I'm sure that they will agree with me.

BEST DIRECTOR
Will Win: David Fincher, "The Social Network"
This category is particularly interesting among the rest because for weeks, months in fact, it appeared that it will be Fincher who would take home the prize. But then the Director's Guild of America, who has correctly picked the last nine winners of this award, selected Tom Hooper for his award in "The King's Speech," and that pretty much changed everything in terms of the predictability of this award. Personally, I'm deciding to stick with Fincher and choose him as my pick in this category. As Aaron Sorkin pointed out in his Golden Globe acceptance speech, the man managed to turn a movie about a few guys sitting in front of their computer and working to build a successful social networking site into a smart, captivating two hour motion. Also, on a personal note, I tend to have more admiration for the man than Hooper as has directed some of my favorite movies of the past fifteen years, including "Fight Club" and "Zodiac." Although, I do think that Hooper will get more chances thanks to his pedigree and his tendency to direct great historical drama whether it's in film ("The King's Speech") or on TV ("John Adams," "Elizabeth I")

BEST PICTURE
Will Win: "The King's Speech"
Every year, no matter if there are 5 or 10 nominees as it has been during the past two years, the Best Picture race seemingly boils down to two possible movies. There are of course some rare exceptions, like in '94 when "Forrest Gump" was battling "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Pulp Fiction" for the title, or in '67 when "In the Heat of the Night" was up against "The Graduate" and "Bonnie and Clyde," but those events rarely happen these days. This year the trend continues, as the two serious contenders for Best Picture are "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech." In a perfect world, "Inception" and "Toy Story 3" would also end up being one of those major contenders, but unfortunately we are not living in one. And despite the fact that I believe "The Social Network" will take home the prize of Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director, I still have a strong feeling that it will be Tom Hooper's well acted and well written British historical drama that will take home the night's biggest prize once the ceremony is over.

The reasons? Well, most people would point towards the fact that the movie is British and that the Academy over the years loved to award British people for their movie achievements. But that argument is too simple and too flawed as there have been plenty examples of the past few years where British film have lost out on major awards (examples: "Atonement" losing Best Picture in 2007, "Happy Go Lucky" losing Best Foreign Film last year). I'm going with the much more logical reasoning. For starters, no matter how much accolades that "The Social Network" has received over the past few months, Oscar experts from as early as November would continue to call "The King's Speech" the favorite to win Best Picture for their superior cast and wonderful direction by Tom Hooper. Second, I feel that the Academy tends to award this category to films that have the better acting, which you can argue that "The King's Speech" has (after all, two of the show's major stars have a chance at grabbing awards later tonight while there are none from "The Social Network" that you can see winning in a practical standpoint). Finally, even though "The King's Speech" failed to beat "The Social Network" in the Golden Globe for Best Drama, it did win over them in the Director's Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Producer's Guild Awards, three earlier award show that are excellent telltale signs at how the Academy Awards is going to shape up. So get ready, America, because in a few hours a movie about the British king shall be crowned on your soil!

Now that that's out of the way, here a new installment of "End of the Week" for this, the final full week of February 2011:

END OF THE WEEK

Stories of the Week:
-The Actual Story of the Week: The Latest in the Libyan Uprising
What has started out as simple protests for a change in the country's rule has turned into a full out war and an uprising. Currently, the majority of the country is now reported to be under the rule of the new Libyan opposition, which is currently centered around the major city of Benghazi. Despite the opposition continuing to gain strength and international support by the day, the old regime led by Muammar Gadhaffi, centered and still operating in the capital city of Tripoli, continues to not back down, continuing to send soldiers and police out to the streets to raid and even kill any opposition of his rule. It has become so bloody that there there been reports of at least 10,000 people have been reported injured and/or killed. But things have been improving in the country's quest to end the reign of Gadhaffi. Several Libyan officials have stepped down, the major countries in the world seem to be in favor of the opposition and are even considering putting a flight alert in the nation so Gadhaffi's forces can't attack through the air, and it appears that the world's longest running autocracy should come to an end very soon. Until then, all we as a nation and as a planet can do is watch and see what violence, protests, tensions and diplomatic events will happen next.
-The Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week: CBS Cancels Production of "Two and a Half Men" After Charlie Sheen's Rants Against Show's Creator
Boy, you just have to love that Charlie Sheen and his complete self-destruction! Just when you think that he's going to lay off the crazy and get back into the "Two and a Half Men" production set to complete the rest of the episodes that the show has left to finish in their already shortened season, he goes on a radio show and on TMZ to blast the show's creator Chuck Lorre, calling him names like "hymie" and "Haim Levine" and even criticizing Alcoholics Anonymous (calling him a bootleg cult) and proclaiming just how awesome he is. Now, CBS has finally done what they should have done a while back, canceling the rest of the season of "Two and a Half Men," but possibly also the show entirely! Mel Gibson, I think that you might have yourself a new best friend.

Video of the Week: "Two and a Half Men" Leaked Finale
During the finale, Sheen's character also stated that he's going to ask kids to recycle...TO THE EXTREME!



Person of the Week: Muammar Gaddafi (a.k.a. Mommar el-Gadhafi a.k.a. Muammar Quaddafi, a.k.a. Mummar al-Gaddafi a.k.a. Mo, and every other way people have been misspelling his name over the past two weeks)
Not only is he being obstinate in fighting to remain in charge of Libya, but he's also been in favor of going as far as to arm his supporters and convince them to kill any protester fighting for the end of his regime in the process, all while looking fabulous in the process. That's a skill that requires great stubbornness, determination, and an evil mind, and he manages to have all three! Now, just do the right thing and end this violence before things end up getting even worse.

Furthermore, the man's self disillusion at the current situation is fascinating. Here is his country, with millions fighting for democracy and freedom from his oppressive rule, thousands getting killed for the cause and cursing his name; a situation so chaotic that the nation is on the brink of a full-on Civil War if it continues. So what does he do? He acts like nothing is happening, claiming that the Libyan people are behind him and acting like it was just a normal week, with the protesters as simple distraction from his awesomeness. At least Hosni Mubarak understood what his people want and eventually stepped down. With him, it appears that the uprisers just might have to go all Russian Revolution on him and behead not only him, but his entire family as well in order to prevent future Gaddafi from taking over again. No wonder that he and Charlie Sheen have been in the news this week. Both are basically the same people (psycho, possibly drug fueled) , except for their occupations.
-Runner-ups:
1. Libyan citizens taking footage of the uprising, no matter how dangerous it might have been.
2. Charlie Sheen. From possibly canceling "Two and a Half Me" for good (yay!) to making anti-Semetic rants during a radio interview to even peeing in front of a journalist to prove his sobriety, you couldn't help but get glued to the latest developments in his life. God bless him, and his coked-up little heart.

And that's the way it was! Sorry if you felt that this week's installment spent all of the time to Sheen and the happenings in Libya and not to other big happenings like the latest happenings in Wisconsin from the passing of the hated union bill in the state's assembly to the 70,000 gathered in Madison yesterday, or this music video from LCD Soundsystem featuring the Muppets. Hopefully, I shall redeem myself next week. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend, Oscar or not.

Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15





If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

Random Thoughts: 02/21/11- 02/24/11

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

I ride the CTA train almost every weekday morning and afternoon these days. Usually, the train I ride in the morning involves this young guy, probably in his late 20s, who like to randomly give out times (your time now is 7:12!) during the trip to my stop and, just as we turn the corner to enter the Loop, he likes to welcome us to this train rush and wish us a happy day. Every Friday, however, he would go a step further and congratulate us on making it through the workweek and wish us all a nice weekend. You gotta like public transportation train drivers like those. They know their job suck and usually involves little pay and the occasional boredom, so ahe puts that frustration into mixing it up a bit and act like a little out of the ordinary, in a good way. I wish there were more public train conductors like him.

Anyways, the following were on my mind between Monday, February 21st and Thursday, February 24th:

- Rahm Emanuel is the new mayor of Chicago?!?! But...did they even bother counting the votes in the cemeteries yet? I KEED, I KEED! But, seriously, the fact that the early 21st Century political Al Swearengen was elected into the city's highest office isn't surprising, despite the fact that some people are startled. I mean, the guy was the Chief of Staff to Obama, the second most important position in the White House, and was the candidate that ran the most ads in the local channels by far (including the Bill Clinton endorsement ad which seemed to run every five minutes). The next person with this much publicity was Gery Chico, but once Emanuel was allowed back into the ballot late last month, you knew that his best hopes of winning was through getting an April runoff election.

- My three favorite postseasons in sports:
1. the NCAA tournament, because there isn't a single event in American sports that can probably compete with the event's first four days where 64 teams play 48 matches to decide the Sweet Sixteen.
2. the NHL playoffs, because sudden death overtimes that last hours at a time are always fantastic.
3. the NFL playoffs, for reasons that I believe I mentioned in my forty or so weekly NFL predictions posts over the past two years.

- Only in America...can Larry the Cable Guy can have a TV show called "Only in America."

- First the protests in the Middle East organized through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, then the city of Detroit collecting $50,000 in donations to create a Robocop statue, and now the news that fans of the long-cancelled show "Firefly" rallying around star Nathan Fillon's claims that he could buy the show and maybe create new episodes if he can just collect $300 million by actually launching websites rallying to help out in the cause. Yep, I guess you can say that the Internet is really being used to its full potential at this point.

- Speaking of Carmelo, it was funny seeing this trade situation lasting for months but the Deron Williams trade to New Jersey taking only a second a report. Overall, while I thought that the Nets gave up much

- Overall, I found the long awaited Carmelo Anthony trade which sent 'Melo and Chauncey Billups (a very underrated aspect of the deal as I feel that he's still a decent guard and one that can bring veteran experience and leadership come playoff time) among others to the Knicks in exchange for Danilo Galinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov and 3 draft picks to Denver Tuesday afternoon a very decent deal for both teams. For the Knicks, it brings them the best available player in the market for the next eighteen or so months into their team while also another big name in the Garden (joining Amare Stoudemire), and an even bigger boost to this team's offense. Sure, New York probably won't come out of this as future winners of the Eastern Conference this season and possibly even makes them a worse Mike D'antoni coached-defense than the one that they had now (currently ranked second to last, slightly ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves), but it does set them up nicely for the future, including as early as next season. As for the Nuggets, compared to the nothing that they would've received in the case of Anthony leaving the team for free agency in four months or so, it is a very positive trade for them as well. Plus, having three additional draft picks aren't necessarily a bad thing. But, yes, the Knicks really had the better hand of the deal.

- It's funny: a day after the Carmelo Anthony trade finally went down after months of speculation, the Deron Williams to the Nets trade happens and it's the most shocking transaction of the past year. Anyways, while I do believe that the Nets gave up a lot justa lo like the Knicks gave up for Anthony (though there are many NBA experts and scouts claiming Derrick Favors to be an early bust), anytime that you can get one of the best point guard in the leagues is a positive for any team. By the way, I found this to be a good redemption move for New Jersey owner Mikhail Prokhorov. For months, he has promised to build a dynasty in New Jersey only to end up losing the #1 pick in the 2010 lottery, losing Lebron James and any other free agent in the 2010 offseason market and then losing Carmelo Anthony despite months of talk with Denver and being hailed by many as the up and coming James Dolan. Now, all of a sudden, his team suddenly received Williams, and he at least earns some happy thoughts from Nets fans, if only for a while.

-Don't ask me why, but yesterday I spend nearly two hours looking through the list of the first 1000 #1 hits in Billboard's history and even listened to the two part, one hour long audio featuring five seconds clips of every song from the beginning (1958) to 1992. It was sort of a combination of having way too much time in my hands and just not wanting to do anything cooperative for my community and this planet. As someone whose earliest memory of popular music was "Mambo No.5" and "I Believe I Can Fly" (no, really), what particularly struck me was the fact that many great musicians and bands including Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Credence Clearwater Festival and Jimi Hendrix never ended up having a number one hit, whereas people or bands that I've honestly never heard of before reading the list like Roxette had around four or five. I guess this is a good sign for the future legacy of today's music. Some other quirky and pointless observations, simply because I feel like it:
*Apparently, in the '60s and '70s, almost anything that The Beatles or Diana Ross did would end up turning to gold. In their heyday, The Beatles would have somewhere around seven or eight #1 hits per year while the Supremes would have around 4 or 5 per year. And then, when The Beatles broke up in 1970, each of the four groupmembers wound up getting at least two number one singles (even Ringo Starr!). Same thing with Ross, who, after the Supremes broke up, ended having a bunch more #1 hits by herself.
**Is it just me, or do all of the #1 songs from '91 and '92 sound the same?
***1985 wasn't a great year for popular music, to say the least.
****Of all of the songs in Michael Jackson's collection to become Billboard #1 hits, you would figure that the iconic "Thriller" would be one of them, right? Well, it didn't. I was most surely surprised.
*****Kudos to artists like Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and even Janet Jackson who managed to have #1 hits in three separate decades. Now that really takes some musical talent.
******It's fun to look back at the decades and try to pinpoint where music from one decade started into the music mostly associated with that decade. For the '60s, it seems like The Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was the song, for the '70s, it was either Earth, Wind & Fire's "Shining Star" or Grand Funk's "Do the Locomotion", for the '80s, it was Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," for the '90s, I found New Kids on the Block's "Step by Step" to be the one and for the 2000s it's too hard to tell.

And there you have it! Now, last Thursday I gave a little hint that this might be the last Thursday random thoughts post for an indefinite amount of time. Well, guess what? I lied, temporarily at least. Just like you should expect a new random thoughts to come at ya this Monday, expect another one to arrive for at least another Thursday (the next one) just one more time. Until then, enjoy the end of workweek, and enjoy these tweets from the fake account of the city of Chicago's newly elected mayor:

http://twitter.com/MayorEmanuel/status/40225077538586624

http://twitter.com/MayorEmanuel/status/40231375529316352

http://twitter.com/MayorEmanuel/status/40250820117270528

http://twitter.com/MayorEmanuel/status/40404793025368064


I hope he puts that swearing into good use, like fighting corruption (ha!) or the city's public school debt. Good night!

Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15





If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

Random Thoughts: 02/17/11- 02/21/11

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

The following were on my mind between Thursday, February 17th and Monday, February 21st:

-"Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son" doesn't finish its first weekend on top of the weekend box office; Humanity prevails.

-Never mind. Despite not being #1, "Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son" still finished its opening week box office in the top 5; Humanity's redemption will still have to wait.

- Muammar el-Quadhafi, Moammar Quaddafi, Mommar Gadhafi, Muammar el-Quadhafi...can we just nickname the Libyan dictator Mo and call it a day?

-"Pssst, call me when Blake Griffin can dunk over two cars."- Grumpy ol' Julius Erving.

-Hmmm, is it a coincidence that "30 Rock" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," two shows that Comedy Central either currently airs episodes of or will soon air episodes of, received Best Comedy Series nominations for the 1st Annual Comedy Awards (a show that will be run on Comedy Central, if I might add), over shows that are arguably more deserving like "Louie," "Parks and Recreations," and "Community"? I think not!
*Conspiracy!
**Okay, not really. Just thought I'd create one for fun.
***Still, it's not implausible, right?

- Thank you, IFC, for introducing me to the awesomeness of "Mr. Show with Bob and David." As someone who was too young to watch the entire run of the series, I'm glad that I'm able to do so right now. David Cross and Bod Odenkirk are true comedic geniuses if there ever were some.

-My 5th installment of the NBC Thursday Night Comedies Power Ranking for the episodes that aired on Feb. 17th:
1 (tie). "Community"- "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" (35 points)
Since I m mostly basing this power rankings on an episode by episode basis, I would have to say that this episode was really stellar. It was a lovely spoof of the mockumentary style comedies like "Modern Family" and fellow NBC counterpart "The Office" (I particularly enjoyed Abed's little jab at MF when he pointed out the show's forced and generic endings that were featured throughout their first season) that provided some neat character development and a lot of hilarious moments (the Troy interactions and responses during his meeting with personaly demigod Lavar Burton were priceless and might have given Donald Glover a performance that he could send to the Emmy committe for their consideration this summer). My one slight issue in this one was Pierce, who for the second time in three episodes acted like an unbearable dick. Yes, both of those occasions happened during very hilarious episodes. But I still feel that Dan Harmon and crew might need to address this in coming episodes. But, hey, if I let that slide during "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," then I'll let it slide for this one.
1 (tie). "The Office"- "Threat Level Midnight" (35 points)
The Steve Carell farewell tour keeps rolling along, this time with a brilliant episode that was solely dedicated to finally showing the premiere screening of Michael's long awaited Michael Scarn (nice callback to the season two classic, by the way) motion picture that has the title of the night's episode. It was hysterical and fun to watch from start to finish and just the kind of movie that you would have expected it to be (in a good way). Plus, since the movie took a total of five years to shoot and re-shoot, we also got to see nice reappearances from old yet familiar names like Jan and Karen.
2. "Parks and Recreations"- "Media Blitz" (25 points)
Either I was too laughed out from watching "Community" and "The Office" before like Homer Simpson when trying to watch Late Night with Conan O' Brien after Leno, or this episode (despite having its moments at times) felt a bit hit or miss. On the plus side, at least the episode was a nice showcase for Adam Scott. It was also much better than this week's episode of "30 Rock." Speaking of which...
3. "30 Rock"- "It's Never Too Late For Now" (15 points)
This episode reminded me of the ones from season three: okay, but a bit underwhelming overall.

My season tally thus far:
1. "Parks and Recreations": 170 points
2. "Community": 165 points
3. "The Office": 140 points
4. "30 Rock": 110 points
Three weeks ago, "Parks and Recreations" held a considerable lead over "Community." Now, that once 35 point lead has been dwindled down to five, meaning that there could be a new #1 in the power rankings for the first time ever. Meanwhile, "The Office" continue to hold a steady position at #3 while "30 Rock" continues to plunge in the rankings with a now 60 points deficit over first place "Parks and Recreations," and thirty points behind 3rd place "The Office." So, what new developments will come next week? Will "Community" be the new #1? Will "Indianapolis" keep "Parks and Rec." on top? Which of the shows in the bottom half will have the biggest improvement? I don't know about you, but I really can't wait for next week.

More random thoughts to come this Thursday! Until then, enjoy the rest of your President's Day.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15



If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

End of the Week: 02/13/11- 02/19/11

END OF THE WEEK:

Sorry for the late post (then again, I write a late "End of the Week" almost every other week, so this really shouldn't have come as a surprise). Must have been from the seizure I suffered after watching the music video for Kanye West's "All of the Lights." Thank goodness for Hype Williams taking ten seconds at a time to showing Rihanna's barely covered body, for it might have been worse. Anyways, here is the newest installment of the weekly segement in which I decided which things stood out from this past week. Enjoy.

Middle Eastern Uprisings of the Week: Bahrain and Libya
If you thought Egypt would be the end to the string of Middle Eastern protests in 2011, you were dead wrong. Several other countries joined in on the fun days following the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak that included countries like Jordan, whose King named a new Prime Minister as a result, Iraq, whose Prime Minister agreed to not run for another term, and (to no one's surprise),Iran. None of those protests have been as violent as the ones to take place in the countries of Bahrain and Libya. In Bahrain, what originally was intended to be a protests in favor of greater rights for the Shia natives has turned into a violent clash towards the end of the government's monarchy thanks to several clashes with the country's police and federal troops, including a February 17th crackdown by the government which killed at least five people and injured hundreds of others.

In Libya, however, the situation has become much more brutal, where Libyan forces under the command of longtime President Muammar el-Qaddafi have been clashing with anti-Qaddafi supporters across the country. Nearly six days have passed since the start of the protests, and at least 250 deaths have been confirmed as a result, including at least 228 protesters. Things have become so serious that many people living through this revolution are calling the cities as "war zones" . There are even reports coming out which states that Qaddafi has even hired African mercenaries to help bolster his troop count. And now, for yet another week, the Obama administration is forced to go through yet another process of dealing with a strategic Arabian ally locked in a crisis among its people for independence. Stay tuned.


Secret Formula Reveal (?) of the Week: The Original Coca-Cola Recipe
Meanwhile, the folks at 7Up are still trying to find ways for people to care about their secret formula.

The "Holy S@#&!" Moment of the Week: Clippers Center Blake Griffin Dunks Over a Car During 2011 NBA All Star Game
With a nice product commercial integration to boot! What can this rookie not do these days?



Stories of the Week:
-The Actual Story of the Week (That Isn't a Middle East Uprising): Thousands of Wisconsinites Protesting State Bill That Would Reduce The Power & Benefits of Public Worker Unions
Great, now we have the American heartland's version of Tunisia, with other state workers joining in! What ever happened to respecting the status quo and not questioning anything? Have people lost their damn minds?
- The Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week: Watson the IBM Computer Defeats Two Top Human Trivia Contestants on "Jeopardy"
Sure, he may be good at answering questions. But until he can go on "Dancing With the Stars" and perform a perfect samba, I'm afraid that I just cannot take our new computer overlord seriously.

Video of the Week: "An Awkward Moment"
It's too bad that we didn't see the man's reaction of the cheap shot. I wonder if he was more pissed at the "short" portion or more confident of himself because of the "impressive" portion?



.gif of the Week: Justin Bieber Gets Shot to Smithereens on "CSI"
It's every angry Youtube music commenter's dream come true, I think.



Person of the Week: Cassy Herkelman
Some people might think much more differently than me and say that the kid boy wrestler who refused to fight Herkelman, a girl, in a wrestling competition should be credited the most. Well, I say that they're wrong, and that Herkelman should be the one to receive the praise. After all, she was a member of a high school's wrestling team, so she was able to fight any person, man or woman, as a challenger.

And that's the way it is! Enjoy the rest of your President's Day weekend, everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15



If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

Random Thoughts: 02/14/11-02/17/11

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

The following were on my mind between Monday, February 14th and Thursday, February 17th:

-Since when did people of my generation started making a pact to stop naming newborn with normal, classy names like William, Christopher Matt, Amy, Ashley and especially Robert into these weird new kids names like an Aiden, a Carver, a Brayden or even a Lily? And how long before these names make a comeback, if ever?

- It was great to see the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, return to the WWE ring on Monday night as well as back home where he belongs after a seven year absence, even if it is just going to be until early April. Seeing him unexpectedly return instantly brought me a great sense of nostalgia back to a time when I was just a little kid that only really cared about four things: my family, my schoolwork, me being able to watch good cartoons and being a devoted fan of professional wrestling, cheering on for beloved wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero and, yes, the People's Champion himself in the process. Also, now that he's agreed to host and probably fight a match (presumably against John Cena) inWrestleMania XXVII, it has also brought an excitement to the WWE that I haven't had in at least five years.

- Chicago's population might have dwindled by nearly 7 percent over the past decade, but the average waistline has continued to grow by over 20 percent...and counting.
/I kid this city because I love it

- Call me crazy, but I'm actually okay with the people of Detroit raising over $500,000 to build a Robocop statue, for two reasons. The first is because there is already a Rocky statue in Philadelphia, so why shouldn't there be another statue dedicated to a famous fictional movie character? Second, the symbolism of Robocop and Detroit is astounding. Currently, the city is broken and beaten down financially and socially, kind of like the skin of Alexander James Murphy and the man who plays him, Peter Weller. Robocop, on the other hand, represents the city that Detroit wants to become: revitalized, unapologetic and bad-ass. Of course, its going to be a while before that happens. But, until then, at least the citizens of the city will have some fun town landmark for tourists to either get attracted to or laugh at.

- Of course "The Chicago Code" has started off its first two episodes (both of which I thought were very enjoyable) with pretty disappointing ratings. I mean, a good and promising cop show that ISN'T a procedural? Psst, not in John Boehner's America! Try bringing that fancy serialization stuff to cable next time, Shawn Ryan!

- With Charlie Sheen's off-set problems, the show losing episode count for two straight seasons and Agnus T. Jones entering college age next year, I have a feeling that "Two and a Half Men" will finally ends its run next season.

Since football season has come to an end and spring is quickly approaching, making the amount of topics for this segment dwindle in length, I have a strong feeling that we are winding down to our last Thursday random thoughts for an undetermined amount of time. Be sure to check back over the coming weeks for updates. Until then, enjoy the rest of your workweek, and I will be back with more random thoughts on Monday.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15




If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

Random Thoughts: 02/10/11-02/14/11

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Happy Valentine's Day! Here a quick dirty joke to start this post off:

Why can't sluts count to 70? Because 69 is a mouthful. HEEYOH!

Now that I have you warmed up, here are some slightly less entertaining and letdown-esque random thoughts. The following were on my mind between Thursday, February 10th and Monday, February 14th:

-Eminem: the guy so cool, he refuses to smile!

-Everytime Facebook decides to make a change, millions flock to show their anger towards that change, only to get used to it in about two or three weeks, and then become angry again when they change that, too. "Aww, my profile boxes aren't appearing!" "Aww, they made me change the homepage!" Aww, their photo viewing page sucks!" I wonder if those people decided to look at the changes on MySpace before judging what their overlord Zuckerberg did.

- The story of the Justin Bieber fans flocking to Esperanza Spalding's Facebook page to post insulting remarks because she won Best New Artist at the Grammys is magnificent. Who knew that so many people can get offended by the success of a slightly lesser known jazz bassist.

-The first Sunday without football is just the worst. Not only is it the first weekend without any NFL action (preseason, regular season, postseason, etc.) since August, so you all of a sudden have to find something else to do all of a sudden, whether its going out brunching, watching a random DVD, socialize with people (shivers), conduct a five hour masturbation session, etc. to fill the void lost without the game. Also, you haven't yet officially adjusted to the fact that there isn't a game on then if it was, say, late June or some other time in the spring/early summer. Second, this is the first time that you are officially hit with the reality that the best season of American sports is officially over. Its even worse this year, with there being no Winter Olympics and March Madness not starting for another three weeks. Oh well, thank god for TCM's 31 Days of Oscar.

-The famous "fuck" scene in episode four of "The Wire" in which McNulty and Bunk investigate a crime scene uttering nothing more than different variations of the word 38 consecutive time is nothing short of a beautiful symphony of profanity (if there is such a thing).

(By the way, how amazing is it that the Youtube video of the scene, that not only features the profanity but picture of a naked dead woman with her nipple exposed, is still on the site after four years? Only with "The Wire," my friends. Only with "The Wire.")

-You know, while I have a few disagreements with what Glenn Beck preaches (quite a few, actually), I have to admit: the man can create a captivating TV viewing experience. Much more entertaining than I would have liked, in fact.

-Holy cow, what a great Thursday night of comedy it was on NBC! All of the four comedies on my power rankings seemed to step up with their A-game that night to the point where it at point was impossible for me to separate them into my power rankings. But, after taking time to deliberate the pros and cons of all of the episodes (and there weren't a lot of cons for each), here is my NBC Thursday Night Comedy Power Rankings for day 4 (Feb. 10th):
1 (tie). "The Office"-"PDA" (35 points)
This is, to me, the funniest episode that this shows has had this season and the best episode that the show has had overall since "Niagara." Hilarious opening bit with the gang signing birthday wishes to Darell on a card that was supposed to comfort him after his mother's death, drunk Jim and Pam looking for a place to do it in the workplace proved was wonderful to watch, wonderful one-liners (my personal favorite was when Michael thought of a Jason Statham romantic action movie pitch with the tagline "Saving the world had never been this hard") and above all else the story of Michael and Holly's uncomfortable office PDA leading to them deciding to move together was one of the highlight of a dissapointing year and well done by Steve Carell and Amy Ryan. That's three out of four good episode for the show to start out a pleasantly good 2011.
1 (tie). "Community"- "early 21st Century Romanticism" (35 points)
In terms of laughs, this episode didn't match to to other season 2 greats (including last week's "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"). However, in terms of bringing back the nostalgia of the majority of the episodes in season one and having a well-constructed story that used all of the show's major and major-minor characters, it was a doozie of an episode. Let's also hope that this episode wasn't the last time that we've seen of Magnitude. That man is his own party, after all!
1 (tie). "Parks and Recreations"- "Ron and Tammy: Part II" (35 points)
Though not as good in terms of quality that the original was, it was still a fantastic sequel nonetheless with wonderful sight gags mixed into it. Seeing Ron Swanson in cornrow dreadlocks with beads at the back and a slightly shaved off mustache that "rubbed off...from friction" just kept getting better and more funnier to look at every time.
2. "30 Rock"- "Double Edged Sword" (30 points)
You know the slate of NBC comedies were so great where a comedy like "30 Rock" who had a really good episode like "Double Edged Sword" had to finish second when all was said and done. My two beefs that ultimately made me not included with the other three in what would have been a four-way tie for first were Tracy finally claiming the EGOT, even though I can't seem to remember a time when it was mentioned that he had won an award other than the Oscar for "Hard To Watch" before, and the absurd ending with Matt Damon's character Clay pointing a gun at Liz who was using an old man to guard her. Otherwise, a pretty solid episode from the show.

The season tally thus far:
1. "Parks and Recreations"- 145 points
2. "Community"- 130 points
3. "The Office"- 105 points
4. "30 Rock"- 95 points

So, "Parks and Recreations" still remains on top of the leader board. However, these past two weeks have taught us that all of these shows are capable of creating episodes that can surpass the show for the top spot at any moment, so this lead isn't safe just yet.

Enjoy the rest of your Valentine's night, whether you are in a relationship or are spending it alone. See you this Thursday for some more half-baked ideas, everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15




If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

End of the Week: 02/06/11-02/12/11

END OF THE WEEK:

No time to waste as I'm already a day late posting this as it is. Here are my picks for the best of this week, the sixth week of 2011:

Disgraced Congressman of the Week: New York 26th District Representative Christopher Lee
On Wednesday, news broke on the news and rumors website Gawker that the 46 year old married congressman sent photos of himself shirtless and flexing his biceps to a woman on Craigslist, and then proceeded to make a conversation with that woman saying that he is 39 years old and divorced. While the congressman didn't go as far as actually having an affair with that woman or performing some scandalous acts as other Republican congressmen as himself have done over the years, he has since apologized for doing what he did and actually resigned nearly three hours after the Gawker story was published. But, hey, at least he has that decent mid-40s body to feel good about!

Video of the Week: "The Roomate"
It's hard to believe that it has been nearly nine months since the last time that mj15 blog favorite Andy Samberg last appeared on this column, but it's true. Well, that all changed during the hilarious Feb. 5th edition of "Saturday Night Live" (hosted by Dana Carvey) when Samberg and pop phenom Justin Bieber took part in a sketch that was so hilarious from start to finish that I just had to use to end the drought. In this parody of "The Roomate," about two girls living with a psychotic and murderous roomate, we see Bieber sharing a room with a guy named Declan (Samberg), whom he suspects as a guy that is trying to kill him (and is right). The spot-on parody sketch, despite being only a minute in length, was fantastic throughout and featured some great moments from Samberg over-the-top appearance as Decklan to the funny twist at the end when it was revealed that the actor playing Declan is none other than Sir Ben Kingsley. Let me put it this way: I thought it was so good that it made me actually.. like Justin Bieber (if only a moment). Can't wait to see what else the king of the short comedy clips does during the rest of the year.




Trade of the Week: Guns For Sex Toys At Alabama Adult Store
Strangely enough, this store is probably the most progressive area of Alabama right now.

Stories of the Week:
-The Actual Story of the Week: Hosni Mubarak Finally Resigns as President of Egypt
The end of an era. A cruel, ineffective, paternalistic, arrogant, undemocratic and malignant era.
- The Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week: Harry Baals Building Name Unlikely in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Despite leading the polls in the race to decide the name of the new Fort Wayne government building, many officials in the city government have sided against naming the building this way because they have the crazy idea that people will make fun of that name. I mean, I can't possibly think of a way that people will make fun of a government building named after someone like Harry Baals. Can you? What's next, the Bolivian government changing the name of Lake Titicaca?

Controversy of the Week: Groupon.com's Super Bowl Ads
It only took five days, but the online discount store finally pulls the showing of their tacky/unfunny Super Bowl advertisements due to many people calling offense to it, despite several attempts of trying to either defend their ads or adding a website that the end of the ads that will allow you to donate to the causes discussed during the ads. Personally, I think that this past week was nothing short of great for Groupon. Yeah, their commercials were a bit ill-thought out. But the good news is that their website ended up getting their product out there to more people (inlcuding me, who had never heard of them before Sunday) then they would have had they just made some average or unoffensive Super Bowl commercial. I wouldn't be surprised if the people behind the ads received a promotion rather than a layoff.

Winner of the Week: Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers
It doesn't get much better than MVP of the biggest sporting event in all of Western civilization, especially when you put up great statistics like he did (24 fior 36, 304 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) that was seen by over 111 million people in this country, lead one of the most historic franchises in league history to another title and deflated the legacy of the ol' gunslinger/dongslinger Brett Favre...all at the age of 27. And to think, not many people of his own fanbase wanted him as the team's starting QB just three years ago. My, how times do change quickly.

People of the Week: Egyptian Protesters
Well, they did it. After nearly two weeks of gathering by the hundreds of thousands in cities all over their country, protesting and even battling against pro-Mubarak supporters, these people finally got what they wanted when longtime president of thirty years, Hosni Mubarak, finally stepped down on Friday. Their thirty years if living in a one man dictatorship finally passed. Of course, with the departure of Mubarak now brings up the poignant question about what will happen in this country now based on their actions: Will the country now officially become democratic? If so, who will become the country's next leader? Will it now become a military dictatorship with the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Military Forces ruling over all? Will the Muslim Brotherhood use their influence to change things back to the way it was? How will this political crises impact the country's already stagnant economy? How will the United States help the country or the time, or will it not help them at all?

These are only a handful of many things that will have to be discussed and resolved in the nation overtime. But until then, its only fair to take a step back and let them celebrate their newfound independence, even though that remains up for jeopardy at the moment. They deserve it, after all.

And that's the way it is! Enjoy the rest of your February weekend, everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15




If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

Random Thoughts: Everything Non-Super Bowl Related From This Past Week

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

I hope that you enjoyed my Super Bowl XLV recap post from Monday. Of course, with the offseason now underway, it means that the seven month period (give or take) where I will stop writing about the league as much is officially underway. Don't get me wrong, I will enjoy the fact that I won't have to worry about dedicating 3-4 hours of my time to writing my predictions that only 10-40 people per week will read. But, still, this blog just doesn't feel the same without them. Plus, it means six months without the NFL and six months about having to worry if there will be a lockout or not. Crap.

Now that I have that unimportant paragraph out of the way, here is a fresh batch of the RTs! The following were on my mind between Thursday, February 3rd and Thursday, February 10th:

- "South Park" is like the animated People's Magazine. I can go watch one of their own episodes and think to myself: "Oh yeah, I remember! This was during the time when (insert person or story here) was the big thing in news and pop culture!"

- Ice-T has been an actor on Law and Order: SVU for so long that I've forgotten that he used to be a decent rapper.

- A show about finding the next great American fast food chain...with "Milkshake" playing in the background during the promos?!?! Yeah, I see this being cancelled in a month.

- I still can't believe that, at a time when over 80,000 ComEd customers lost power, that the electricity and the satellite TV in my house was still going on during last week's blizzard. Those two were by far the MVP during the 20.2 inch snowstorm for me.

- Me (Nov.1st): This is it, man! This the year where I start following the NBA with as much passion and the interest as I do the NFL and MLB! After all, the timing is perfect: Lebron James is in Miami, Derrick Rose continues to get better AND the Bulls just signed Carlos Boozer. This is it! No excuses!

Me (Feb. 5th): Who the hell is Keith Bogans?

- My theory on how the "American Idol" ads that have been running this past week started: Look, we know that this show is a lot worse without Simon Cowell on it. So, let's just make ads telling how fun things have been!

-My penis is going to be very angry when he here's about this: (http://www.avclub.com/articles/cinemax-developing-original-dramas-that-are-not-so,51605/)

-You know how you watch something with very low expectations, only to become impressed by it because of that factor involved? Yeah, that's how I felt after watching the pilot of "Mr. Sunshine."


-My third installment of the early 2011 NBC Thursday Night Comedies Power Ranking for the episodes that ran on February 3rd:
1. "Community"- "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" (40 points)
Honestly, I could just show you the clip of Annie as Hector the Well Endowned acting out a love making scene with Abed as an elf maiden, and that's really all you need to know about how great this episode was. Hilarious from start to finish, and that's coming from someone who has never played Dungeons and Dragons during his entire life, from the wonderful role playing to Chang's Black Elf to the fact that they did it all in the room without the use of additional sets, and more. Pierce's dickishness was a bit too-much at times, but I think that this was part of something that is building up to some later episode where the rest of the group addresses why Pierce is still there. Honestly, this may have passed "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" and "Cooperative Calligraphy" as the best episode of the season.
2. "Parks and Recreations"- "Time Capsule" (30 points)
A bit of a let down from the previous two episodes (even though I loved the return of the comedy goldmine that is the Pawnee town hall meeting). But if this supposed to be the weakest of the season's first six episodes as I have been reading, then I am truly excited for what is to come next!
3. "30 Rock"- "¡Qué Sorpresa!" (20 points)
While it had its share of laughs, the episode kind of felt very out of rhythm at times.
4. "The Office"- "The Search" (15 points)
I get it, Michael and Holly belong with each other! I've know this since the two first met in the season four finale! And, yes, I am glad that they are finally back together! Doesn't mean that you had to make such a poor quality episode (especially considering how strong the shwo started 2011) to do it!

The season tally thus far:
1. "Parks and Recreations" (110 points)
2. "Community" (95 points)
3. "The Office" (70 points)
4. "30 Rock" (65 points)

It just goes to show you how good the episodes have been where "30 Rock," who had three respectable episodes in the row, remains last place at the moment. Meanwhile, thanks to a spectacular episode, "Community" has quickly jumped from the bottom to only fifteen points from the number one spot! Should be interesting what all four shows bring to the table later tonight.

No NFL picks column this week for the first time since early September. So, I will see you next time with a brand new installment of "End of the Week" Until then, enjoy the remainder of the workweek while you can (if you enjoy it, that is).

Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15




If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy Comes Home: My Final Thoughts on Super Bowl XLV

Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, enjoying the moment.


Super Bowl XLV Final Score:
Green Bay Packers- 31
Pittsburgh Steelers- 25

Another great Super Bowl in the books, plain and simple. There was Aaron Rodgers taking the Brett Favre monkey off of his back and cementing him atop the pantheon of the league's best quarterbacks with a stellar MVP performance. There was Jordy Nelson acting as both the game's hero and its goat usually during the same Green Bay offensive possession. There was Pittsburgh, known for the past three or four years as the team to never give up on during a game, getting numerous chances at being the first team in Super Bowl history to take the lead despite being down by eighteen points, and blowing it every time. There was also Christina Aguilera infamously botching up the national anthem, the Black Eyed Peas continuing the streak of consecutive horrible Super Bowl halftime shows, fans being displaced from their seats in exchange for an even better reparation, Nick Collins taking it to the house for the third straight pick-six in Super Bowl history, the return of the CareerBuilder.com monkeys, Alex Rodriguez being fed popcorn by Cameron Diaz and so much more.

In other words, there are so many ways many water cooler talk moments from Super Bowl Sunday that I don't know where to begin! Overall, I would describe this thrilling yet exhausting Super Bowl XLV as the most competitive one sided football game in recent memory. One sided because the Packers never gave up the lead during the contest. Competitive because of how the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers proved once again that they weren't a team that one shouldn't be able to count on giving up so quickly., especially if they are down 21-3 late in the second quarter in the most important game of the NFL season.

The Terrific Comeback That Wasn't (at least, that's how I will always remember this game) really began during the 2:18 mark in the second quarter, long after first points had been scored, the usual pregame festivities that featured the singing of the national anthem, the introduction of the teams by "The Stranger" from "The Big Lebowski" and the flipping of the coin were completed, the first $3 million commercials were broadcast on air and FOX's NFL salute to the Declaration of Independence (a fine one, by the way) had been aired. The Packers had just completed their second offensive drive for a touchdown, this time coming off an Aaron Rodgers 21-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings, to lead the game 21-3 (the first fourteen points, as you probably know, came off a Rodgers TD pass to WR Jordy Nelson and Nick Collins interception for a touchdown that occurred two plays after the first score), and the Steelers offense now had the football, looking for a touchdown to cut their already sizable deficit heading into halftime. It was a 1st down and 10 for the Steelers with the football at their own 23 yard line and the offense lined up in a shotgun formation On that play, QB Ben Roethlisberger, facing pressure, threw a pass twenty five yards to his intended receiver, Hines Ward, who was struggling to get into position as he was well covered by Sam Shields. On the last possible second, with the ball thrown by Roethlisberger speeding towards him, Ward was finally able to get into position to make a catch, grabbed the ball at the 48 yard line and then was able to get seven extra yard until he was finally brought down by Shields (who would get injured trying to tackle Ward).

From that play on, even though Green Bay had been basically dominating the majority of the game with its good play and because of the two interceptions the defense was able to get at the cost of the Steelers, you could sense that momentum had been shifted towards the Steelers. On the next play, Roethlisberger tried to go deep in a pass that was intended this time to speedy deep threat Mike Wallace. Although Wallace was unable to catch it, the play was able to do something positive to Pittsburgh's chances when the cornerback defending Wallace on the play, Pro Bowler and 2009 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson, suffered an injury that would put him out for the rest of the game (and making him the third Packers player to get injured during the game along with Shields and veteran WR Donald Driver). Then, six plays later, with Pittsburgh now eight yards away from paydirt, Roethlisberger threw his team first touchdown game, a slot pass to Hines Ward to cut the game 21-10 with :40 seconds left until it was the Black Eye Peas' time to shine. Knowing the fact that the Steelers just came off a playoff victory over the Ravens that had them down 21-7 and that this team under Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethliberger had been known to pull off better second half performance, you could kind of sense as an observer of this game that maybe, just maybe, this team could do it again, this time with an estimated 162 million people watching worldwide.

Things seemed to get much better for the AFC champions during the third quarter of this game. After the Green Bay offense was limited to a three and out, the Steelers offense scored their second straight touchdown in a drive that was highlighted by three big runs, one by Mwelde Moore for twelve yards and two by Rashad Mendenhall (the first one in which he crashed into a helpless cameraman after a big run and the other one being his eight yard run for a touchdown), to cut the lead to 21-17. Suddenly, you had the Pittsburgh defense playing as best as it had all game, the Packers offense actually struggling for the first time (with 4:30 left to play in the quarter, the team actually had more penalty yards than offensive yards in the second half) and the score as close it has been since the start of the first quarter. Sure, kicker Shaun Siusham (by the way, big apologies to Mason Crosby for me picking Siusham instead of him as my kicker of choice during Friday's Super Bowl picks column) missed a field goal to cut Green Bay's lead to one, but it was a 52 yarder, and for that I give him a benefit of the doubt. Besides, the quarter ended with Mendenhall (who should of been MVP had Pittsburgh won, by the way), running for nine yards to put the Steelers at the Packers 38 yard line with a good chance to take the lead. It still looked like a comeback was in session.

But then the fourth quarter began with Mendenhall (who isn't new to turnover problems during his tenure as an NFL running back) suddenly losing football after getting stripped by the duo of Clay Matthews and Ryan Pickett and Pittsburgh losing possession after it was finally picked up Desmond Bishop, and from then on this game was highlighted by the poise and charismatic play of Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, a young and talented QB that had already proven himself to be one of the league's best players after three outstanding regular seasons and a 2010-11 postseason that had him throw a passer rating of 109, has always been faced with a series of critics that have tried to poke at every one of his flaws. This was the case from the 24 teams that passed on him in the 1st round of the '05 draft, and this was especially the case from those Favre apologists in the media who still felt that the Packers and GM Ted thompson, who were a kick away from Super Bowl XLII during the '07 season, should have kept Favre instead of moving on with the younger Rodgers. During the two drives that his team had during the fourth quarter, I'm pretty sure that he proved basically every remainder of his doubters wrong when he made Pittsburgh's terrific defense once again look average at best and looked as cool and without any pressure as "Joe Cool" Montana himself.

The first drive came following the Mendenhall fumble. In just eight plays, Rodgers drove the Packers down the field 55 yards in just eight plays to put Green Bay up 28-17. But the most interesting part of that drive was that, despite the fact that all eight of those plays were passing, Rodgers never had a pass completed during first and second down. No, it was only when Green Bay was on the brink of punting of the football to Pittsburgh, on third down, that Rodgers was able to find James Jones for twelve yards and then to Jordy Nelson (who bobbled the ball on second down in what must have been his fourth case of missing an easy catch and then making a big catch during the same drive) for thirty eight yards. The second came after Pittsburgh scored a touchdown (a Roethlisberger 25 yard pass to Mike Wallace) and a two point conversion (a sick Roethlisberger lateral to Antwan Randle El just as he was about to be brought down) to cut Green Bay's lead to 28-25 (the closest it has ever been), when Rodgers led the Pack 65 yards, this time with the team wisely taking out five and a half minutes off the clock, all the way to the Pittsburgh five yard line where Mason Crosby kicked a 23 yard field goal to put his team up 31-25. In it, Rodgers again made the relatively difficult Dick Lebeau defense relatively easy to deal with (to be honest, this was a completely different Pittsburgh defense that I had seen all season. It was as if they weren't playing with the same difficulty and toughness as they had all season long), throwing a 26 yard pass to Greg Jennings on third and ten with the team again on the brink of punting it, and a 21 yarder to James Jones that put Green Bay in great scoring position and also gave them the opportunity to run out the clock. A great way to end what had been a stellar night for him (24 for 36, 304 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs), probably the best performance by a winning quarterback in the Super Bowl since Kurt Warner's MVP performance in Super Bowl XXXIV.


However, despite the valiant effort by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense, the Steelers still had one last chance of completing the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. It was a moment that I had predicted on Friday, with this close game coming down to how the team with the final possession does with the football. Turns out, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers, down by six and needing a touchdown to score, and with the perfect quarterback to have during this situation, too, in Ben Roethlisberger. Sure Roethlisberger may not be the best quarterback in the league, or even one of the five best (top ten at most). But when it comes to final second situations with your team desperately needing a touchdown to win, this is one of the guys that you want to have under center. After all, he was only two years removed from winning Super Bowl XLIII on a game winning drive and three weeks removed from defeating Baltimore in the playoffs on a 4th and really long pass to the end zone.

Of course, all 162 million or so that watched this game knew that it wasn't one of Roethlisberger's bests. Earlier in the game, he threw two interceptions (all of which were later turned into points). In fact, you could say that he was more of the Roethlisberger that we saw in Super Bowl XL than the Roethlisberger that we saw two years ago. And on a 4th and 5 with less than a minute to play and Pittsburgh at their own 38, the QB who only nine short months ago wasn't even sure if he was going to remain in Pittsburgh, threw an incomplete pass intended to Wallace that was almost intercepted by Tramond Williams, ending any remaining hope that the Steelers had. Rodgers kneeled down on the next play, putting Super Bowl XLV under wraps for good. Green Bay wins, good triumphs over evil (NO SUPER BOWL FOR THE ALLEGED RAPIST!), Rodgers wins MVP, veterans like Driver and Woodson finally win their first ring, young studs like Clayton Matthews and Greg Jennings get their first taste of greatness, Nick Collins and Jordy Nelson come out of it as unexpected heroes, Pittsburgh gets to wait another year to see if they can get title number seven, the fundamentals of football (defense wins championships, turnovers will cost you big) are proven once again, and the Lombardi trophy comes back to Green Bay as the 2010 NFL season is finally in the books.

Now, let's just hope that the damned owners and the NFLPA can finally get their act together and settle on a new CBA quickly. After all, I don't think that I'm the only one who hopes to see a scab free NFL season in 2011 as well as another opportunity at great game of the likes that we saw last night (with two of the smallest markets in the NFL battling out in an entertaining game for the biggest prize in American sports). And now, here are my thoughts on all of the other aspects of last night's game:

Christina Aguilera Singing the National Anthem: Well, the good news is that she helped get people a lot of money by singing "brave" for ten seconds, four seconds more than the over/under bett on Bodog this past week. And she didn't lip synch! That's good, right? The bad news is...well, where to begin? Look, I'm all for giving your own interpretation of the national anthem, as long as its good (like Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock or Marvin Gaye before the 1983 NBA All Star Game). But that doesn't mean that one should vocalize to the point where its becomes a parody video of every other singer who has tried to over-do the anthem. And, yes, there was the part when she botched the lyrics, leaving out the "O'er the ramparts we watched" line and then trying to make up for it by combining two lines together to make "What so proudly we watched." Overall, a poor rendition of the national anthem. However, unlike a few members of FOX News nation, I'm going to respectfully forgive her.

"America the Beautiful" Sung by Lea Michele: Sweet, conservative, nothing too fancy...the complete foil of Aguilera's performance, and it paid off.

The Look Inside Jerry Jones's Luxury Suit: One of the most fascinating images during FOX's coverage of the game came not only from the field, but off of it, specifically when the cameras broadcasted images from the happenings inside Jerry Jones's luxury suit of importance, where some of the most famous names in Hollywood and politics joined the owner of the Cowboys in watching the game, from Michael Douglas to Roger Goodell to even the majority of the Bush administration. John Madden texting, John Travolta looking suspicious, A-Rod getting fed popcorn by Cameron Diaz...it had it all! Makes you wonder what was happening when the cameras were off.



The Halftime Show with the Black Eyed Peas: This halftime performance did not disappoint, in that it stunk as one would have imagined. It started out okay with the group playing "I Gotta Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow" as you'd expected them to, but things kind of started to fall from there, with the low point being Fergie singing the lyrics to "Sweet Child O'Mine" with Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash playing the song's famous riff. You kind of wish that she was replaced by Aguilera in the middle of her rendition (Ed. note: even I don't know if that's an insult). And then Usher fell down from the sky, which is pretty symbolic considering that it was he came out of the sky to save the performance like a divine intervention in your average old time epic story. If the Tron-like background dancers end up being more entertaining than the performers, then you know that this the Super Bowl halftime performance was awful.

The Seating Controversy: In case you haven't heard, some 1250 or so spectators (an amount that would have made the attendance for last night's game the highest in Super Bowl history) that had bought tickets to watch this game inside Cowboys Stadium weren't able to do so because their seats had either been considered unsafe by safety marshals (something that the league knew for almost a week leading up to the game) or because of incomplete installation of their temporary seats. The news was proclaimed by certain people to be one of the black eye of the Super Bowl (in honor of the Black Eyed Peas), and those thousand or so fans through a hissy fit. And while this may sound like a big issue, I would just like to say that I do not pity these poor souls one bit, mostly because of the "I'm sorry" gift given by the league that is at least 4X better than what the 100,000 or so people got that were able to watch the game. Here is a list of what they received because of the blunder by Cowboys Stadium and the league: One $2400 compensation per ticket, three times the value worth of the ticket that they purchased, free tickets to Super Bowl XLVI (which I assume they could sell for thousands of dollars if their teams don't get to play in it), free food and accommodations during the game, a chance to get on the field after the game (something that many at the stadiums couldn't have done), and (most importantly) their fifteen minutes of fame. As Barry Petchesky of Deadpin points out, their experience was a lot better than had they been able to sit down and watch the game from their seats. Their pain went away around the end of the game last night.

The Announcers: Eh, it was a typical Joe Buck/Troy Aikman game; nothing that special. Buck was calling the game in his usual monotonous, smart-alecky style while Aikman played Buck's right hand man. The good news for them was that Ben Roethlisberger didn't complete that comeback for the ages at the end of the game. I'm sure that the complaints of Buck's monotonous broadcasting would have been a lot bigger than the complaints over his call during the Tyree catch in Super Bowl XLII

The Commercials: Remember when I mentioned in last year's Super Bowl recap that I thought that its slate of commercials may have been the worst ever assembled? Well, this year's slate of ads turned out to be a great improvement from last year. For starters, this year featured its share of great ads that were much more in quantity than last year. Also, the amount of borderline sexist ads, Boost Mobile commercials with the '85 Bears and overhyped commercials about abortion declined from a year ago (always a positive). However, despite the improvement in quality, the game was once again much better than the ads overall. For example, you still were able to see your share of bad Super Bowl ads as there were still plenty of commercials that ended up being flat, uninteresting, or were so bad that they had to resort to groin punching (a nice quick laugh but too overused and overrated these days) to save it from being awful to slightly less awful.

But enough of my boring overall review that even a fifth grader can make. Let's get straight to my pick for the night's bests and worsts (note: I don't count movie trailers). Since I like too get the bad news out of the way, here are the five ads that I thought were the worst of the night (in countdown form):

5 (tie). Bud Light- "Hack Job"
What happened to you, Bud Light? What happened to the days when the brewing firm would actually treat the Super Bowl slot as if it were a big deal and, in response, used that seriousness to make hilarious commercials like Super Bowl XLI's "Wedding Reception Auctioneer" or Super Bowl XL's fantastic "Magic Fridge"? Ever since the beer questionably changed its logo to "Here We Go," the commercials haven't been as funny as it used to. Case in point: this ad about a renovated house that looks better only because there is a stack of Bud Light on the kitchen counter. Not only was it unfunny, but completely ironic since it was the first commercial of the night that was supposed to feature the single biggest night of them, and it failed to live up to the hype. Oh well, at least it was able to redeem itself in a later ad (will be shown later).



5 (tie). Groupon- "Tibet"
Let's get this out of the way: no matter how much supporters of this ad will defend, it was offensive. Not horribly offensive, but offensive nonetheless. It would be the equivalent of someone detailing the tragic images of Hurricane Katrina, only to see John Laroquette appear out of nowhere saying that New Orleans still makes awesome gumbo nonetheless, and that you can get a discount on it if you go on this website order this. It's just simply out of bad taste, you know. Besides, if your going to go that far in your ad, at least make it funny. This ad, to say the least, was not. But as long as this controversy keeps on going, it only improves Groupon's stock, since virtually any publicity is good publicity.
(P.S.- how bad does Timothy Hutton's stock have to be right now that he's agreed to participate in this commercial?)



4. Chevrolet- "Misunderstanding"
Hey, look! It's old people! And they have a hard time listening to the ad about how the Volt has a big MPG because they're old! Get it? I honestly hope that Sunday is the only time that we actually had a chance to see this unfunny and easily forgettable commercial.



3. Pepsi Max- "Torpedo Cooler"
Overall, Pepsi Max had an okay night with ads like "First Date" and "Love Hurts" that were enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately for them, there was also this commercial, about some average schmo who, thanks to the power of Pepsi Max, was able to magically launch two bottles in the head and the crotch of a straight-up asshole. Crotch shots...how original.



2. Sony Ericsson- Xperia Play
As mentioned earlier this week, I was out watching the game at a party. I say this because when this commercial aired, almost everyone that watched it agreed that this was not only terrible, but one of the stupidest commercial they have seen during the game, as did it. After all, what does seeing an android getting knitted human imposable thumbs in a dreary and dirty urban area have anything to do with a cellphone?



1. Any GoDaddy.com Commercial
Last year, I took this website's set of Super Bowl ads #2 in the worsts countdown because of Boost Mobile's god awful "Super Bowl Shuffle" parody.This year, with no Boost Mobile around and with the website's set of ads failing to disappoint with its, usual abominable effort, it won my #1 worst slot in a landslide. Seriously, though, why after all these years and countless negative reviews of their ads does GoDaddy.com still decide on making ads of this poor quality? I have two theories on this:
a) they received a lot of page views from the idiots who think that theirs ads in its entirety on GoDaddy.com actually contains adult content and/or some images of erotic nature, and thus want to continue the success that they have brought.
b) the CEO of the company, who has no experience in making good advertisents, has total creative control of the ad making process and does not receive help from wittier and more imaginative art directors.
Whatever the reason is, I have a feeling that they will continue to make more of these kinds of ads for a long time.



Dishonorable Mentions: Brisk- "Eminem" (kind of hard to believe that he doesn't do commercials when he appeared in two during the game), Budweiser- "Wild West" (I liked the singing of "Tiny Dancer" and that it promoted the message that alcohol actually stops bar fights, but it just fell flat), Mini-"Cram It In the Boot,"
(Hah, get it? It's an entendre for anal sex!") E-Trade "Tailor" (kind of getting tired of the babies for the past two years or so).

And now, in unranked order, here are my votes for the night's best commercials:

Volkswagen- "The Force"
Most of you readers know how much I liked it from the fact that I posted it the day before the Super Bowl on this site as my "Video of the Week." I mean, its got a kid wearing a Darth Vader costume! How better can you get than that! I just wished that it premiered during the Super Bowl than before it. But then again, but of these great commercials that I have listed premiered on the Internet before the Big Game, so I'm going to stop complaining and just enjoy it.



Bridgestone- "Reply All"
People and things screaming: it's the type of commercial that Bridgestone knows that they do best and its the same type of strategy that the company used to perfection on Super Bowl Sunday. This tradition began during Super Bowl XLII with an ad that featured a bunch of forest creatures screaming as a driver was inches away from running over a squirrel, and repeated again during Super Bowls XLIII and XLIV. This time around, the screaming was that of a white collar employee named Rod terrorized about the possibility of all the people in his e-mail address book reading the message which he sent "Reply all" to, so he goes on a hilarious mission to try to eliminate any chance that these people are able to read it. It was the funniest ad of the night, and capped off by an awesome mustache by the supporting actor.



Chrysler- "Imported From Detroit"
One of the most powerful, moving and well-made commercials of the night with a wonderful message about the Motor City and a great payoff with the words "Imported from Detroit" at the end. I just wished that Chrysler advertised a better car than the 200 for such a great ad like this.



Chevrolet- "Miss Evelyn"
An interesting advertisment as it was told eta-style through the perspective of two advertisers, who appear to be good creative partners, trying to think of a commercial to run for Chevy during the Super Bowl, with all of the editing and ideas represented as the commercial was running. Enjoyable, clever, and fun (and Miss Evelyn wasn't a bad site to look at either, if I might add?). What more could you want?



Doritos- ""Pug Attack" and "House Sitting"
On Sunday, the chip company released not one, but two great commercials within the span of thirty minutes. The first one is titled "Pug Attack," where we see an owner taunting his pet pug with Doritos, only to end up with the pug smashing the door that was blocking them to get to it. It was a commercial that you knew what was going to happen, yet ended up laughing either way. The second, as well as the better of the two, is titled "House Sitting." In it, a man is asked to house sit his buddy's pad that ends up having a dead fish, a dead plant, and their grandfather's ashes in an earn, only to have them all revived (even the grandpa!) after the guy sprinkled them all with some Doritos. Not only did it have a great payoff with the dead grandfather coming back to life, but its sheer absurdity won me over tremendously.





Audi- "Release the Hounds"
The commercial so good, it makes me want to say "Hit 'em With the Kenny G" once a day for the next month or so.



NFL- "Best. Fans. Ever."
The NFL is continuing to grow in popularity virtually every season, so the league decided on thanking them for their tremendous support during the game. And how did they do it, you ask? With a wonderful commercial that featured characters of some of the most popular American TV shows then and now with digitalized NFL gear added to them. There was the Foz wearing Green Bay Packers gear, Jerry Seinfeld wearing a Giants winter cap, the folks at Dundler Mifflin in Steelers gear (even though fans of the show all know that the majority of them are Eagles fans!), Eric Cartman wearing Broncos gear, and so much more. It was a cute little commercial with a lot of nostalgic TV moments for everyone young and old. Plus, the actual digitalizing of the gear was pretty well done, if I might add.



CareerBuilder.com- "Parking Lot"
After all, what great Super Bowl would be a complete without another great CareerBuilder.com commercial featuring the always gold monkeys?



Chevy Silverado- "Tommy"
"I didn't know even know this town even had a volcano." A funny ending to a funny parody commercial of the "Lassie" movie series.



CarMax- "I Feel Like"
The ad starts out with a happy and enthusiastic man saying he "felt like a kid in a candy store" at the fact that he has a great selection of cars at the car buying store, to which the commercial then show us a kid in a candy store feeling like a geek at a robot convention and so on and so forth with even more analogies to teh point where it takes us right back to the guy at a CarMax, feeling like his mind had just been blown. Overall, the ad was a pretty clever one that had me feeling very amused at the end.



Cars.com- "Go First"
What can I say? The ad is right when it comes to the benefits of having someone try something out before you.




Best Buy- "Buy Back Program"
Anything that features someone mocking Justin Bieber's appearance on the same ad that had him as the prominent star gets a big thumbs up in my opinion.



Coca-Cola- "Border"
Another year, another entertaining and imaginative commercial from the Coca-Cola company. You have two border patrols, each of which very serious about their job. That is, until one of them open a bottle of Coke, to which both sides come to a partial agreement to spread to border a bit to give another bottle to the other patroller, only to have the two have things go back to their seriousness. It's thid type of feel-good ads that the soda company does well, with this as a great example of it.



Honorable Mentions: Telefora- "Help Me Faith," Sketchers- "Break Up 2 Shape Up," Bridgestone- "Carma," Hyundai- "Anachronistic City," Bud Light- "Zorro" (I wonder if the writers of "Days of Our Lives" had any part of it?), House Promo

Miscellaneous:
a. After seeing four different players taken back to their team's respective locker room, I have to say...the hallway to the locker rooms with the two large high-def TVs are pretty great, probably the best that I've ever seen. But then again, when you pay billions of dollars to have this stadium, the least you could do is make the players locker rooms look spectacular, right?
b. This might have been the first Super Bowl in years in which the experience during the game was a helluva lot better than the experience during the week leading up to it.
c. Two thoughts on Roger Staubach presenting the trophy to commissioner Roger Goodell: 1) he looked very excited to give it to a team that isn't the Steelers and 2) when he and Terry Bradshaw were practically face to face at the Super Bowl presentation stage, I'm surprised it didn't end with either one of them trash talking each other. That, or have them both turn into ashes.
d. I expect this Super Bowl to be the start of something greater in Green Bay. If you think about it, they have the elements that could potentially turn itself into a dynasty. Their the second youngest team in the league, they have a great young QB in Rodgers, a great young defensive beast in Clay Matthews and even A.J. Hawk, stellar wide receivers in Greg Jennings, JerMichael Finley and Donald Driver, great corners, and a good GM in Ted Thompson that has brought in a good group of guys into the team. Add in the fact that they're getting Ryan Grant back next year and most of the other 15 or so players placed on IR during the season, and you have a team that could even be better than the one that we saw win on Sunday. There are only two things that I'm worried about with them. The first is whether the team could deal with the pressure of constantly being challenged and given their best as now the defending champions. The second is whether they fall into the trap of players wanting more money and more playing time, a factor that has contributed to the end of good teams in many sports including the NBA and MLB, which would potentially break up the chemistry of this team.
e. Whoa, whoa! Did I just read that FOX went an entire Super Bowl broadcasting without mentioning Favre?!?! What, are we living in some kind of parallel universe or something?
f. Another reason why its just mind-boggling to think that there will be a potential lockout: last night's Super Bowls are at the highest that it has ever been, with just over 111 million Americans tuning in to watch (not only the largest Super Bowl audience ever but also the largest audience in American TV history, beating...last year's Super Bowl, which drew in just under 107 million) as well as a record household Nielsen rating of 47.9. Should be interesting to see how DeMaurice Smith and the NFLPA uses it to their advantage (because you know they will).
g. The episode of "Glee" that ran after the game affirmed to me every reason that I hate this show and why I will never watch a full episode of it again.
h. Even though Aaron Rodgers has proven for the past two seasons that he deserves to be in the discussion among the topic of who is the best QB in the league, this Super Bowl win has just cemented him at the top of the list as of this moment. Not only does he now have a perfect record in the Super Bowl (something that guys like Brady, Manning and now Roethlisberger can't say) but he's also been one of the three best statistical quarterbacks in the league (with the other two being Manning and most likely Drew Brees) and has had an exceptional start to his playoff career with a 4-1 record, 1.517 passing yards and 13 TDs.
i. The final game picking tally for mj50 and I this season:
mj15: 174-109 (not including the Pro Bowl, which I picked correctly by the way)
mj50: 154-129
Looking back now, I can't believe how foolish I was in picking Pittsburgh (my third incorrect Super Bowl prediction in four years). For starters, Green Bay played five straight playoff type games before this one and won them all, so not only were they the hotter team in this team but their wild card spot reminded me a lot lot the '05 Steelers and the '07 Giants. Second, the cornerbacks for Pittsburgh, though backed up by Troy Polamalu, were still not good enough to match up against the throwing of Aaron Rodgers. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes I suppose.


And there you have it, my thoughts one every major aspect of Super Bowl XLV, from the singing of the national anthem to the announcers to even the game itself. In case you wanted to know, I will continue to talk about the NFL and football related topic during the offseason from time-to-time. After all, this is a year round blog, with or without the additional post a week dedicated to NFL picks. But until then, enjoy the start of your workweek and enjoy...whatever sport you're following now that football is over!

Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15



If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.