Category Archives: Music

September 27, 2014 · 20:39

Panorama: UC Davis Picnic Day, California

One of my daughters went to the University of California at Davis. UC Davis has a wonderful campus and some great traditions that we got to learn about. One of the best is “Picnic Day” in the spring, full of parades, activities, food, and fun. Of these, my favorite was the “Battle Of The Bands,” held in the amphitheater-like park next to the river that runs through the campus. The year I was there the participants were the UC Davis band-ah, the UC Irvine Anteater band (my alma mater and that of my other daughter), the UC Berkeley band, the “legendary” Stanford Marching Band, and I think one other that I can’t recall. Whatever. It went on for hours and was fantastic. This panoramic picture was taken in April, 2011. (Click to enlarge.)

2011_04_16_UC_Davis_Picnic_Day small

This panorama comes from seven images of 2304 x 3456 pixels (8 megapixels) taken with a Canon Rebel XT DSLR, combined into an image of 8924 x 3337 pixels (29.7 megapixels).

If you get to go to Picnic Day, have fun at the Battle of the Bands (remember to bring sunscreen!), and say hello to Gunrock for me!

 

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Filed under Family, Music, Panorama, Photography, Travel

September 14, 2014 · 22:16

Bands I’ve Seen In Concert

Last week an odd neuron fired off and I wrote about bands I’ve never seen live but wish that I could. The flip side of that neuron, probably in no particular order, are the bands and artists that I have seen live in concert.

NOTE — A lot of the dates and places might be a bit off, just best guesses at this point. It’s not like I kept a list, and not all of this stuff is documented on the internet. My brain isn’t what it used to be (and it never was) so if I say “mid to late 2000 at a really small club on Sunset,” it might actually have been early 2001 at a really small club in North Hollywood — but it’s close enough for government work.

NOTE #2 — In Los Angeles, a lot of country artists I’ve seen have been at these all-day “festival” type events that get held once a year or so, usually at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. Back in the day, Los Angeles’ one and only country music station was KZLA and they sponsored these “Country Cookout” events. When KZLA got sold and changed formats, KKGO sprang up to replace it. They also have sponsored these events, but they call them something different — I still call them “Country Cookouts.” Sue me.

Led Zeppelin — The first concert I remember going to, on either their 1975 or 1977 tour, at “The Fabulous Forum” in Los Angeles. One of my younger brothers was obsessed with Zeppelin (still is) but was only about fifteen at the time so there was no way my parents were going to let him go on his own. He somehow talked them into saying it was okay to go if I took them. (I was in college at the time.) My brother then promised me that he would buy my ticket, so off we went. Still memorable for the most pot-smoke-filled room I have ever been in. Also a pretty great concert.

Brad Paisley — I’ve seen him at least five or six times, including a show in (probably) mid to late 2000 at a really small club on Sunset (I think) in Los Angeles. His first album was out and his first two singles, but he was nowhere near the country music superstar that he is now. KZLA sponsored the concert and the only way to get the free tickets was to call in at the proper time. I liked the first album and managed to get a pair of tickets. I went with The Long-Suffering Wife (when she was just The Long-Suffering Girlfriend, it wasn’t all that long after we had met) and I remember it well because there were only about four chairs in the whole place. The “stage” was only about 6 ft x 8 ft and raised maybe twelve inches. The room was crammed with a couple hundred people, a giant mosh pit, and really loud. Ronnie doesn’t do well with mosh pits, so I don’t think she had that good of a time. I absolutely love Brad Paisley’s music and especially his intricate guitar work, so even at that early stage of his career it was amazing to be five or six feet away while he played. Since then, we’ve seen him at a couple of the Country Cookout shows, as well as at the major LA venues such as Staples Center, the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal Studios, and Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

Simon & Garfunkel — The number one group that I thought that I would never get to see and wanted to see sooooooo badly. Their breakup had been nasty and for twenty-plus years they were quite vocal about never getting back together, no matter what. Then they did, and I made damn sure I got tickets to see them at the Hollywood Bowl. Still one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.

Eagles — One of the groups that was high on that other list and I figured that I would never get a chance to see them. But they re-united for “one last tour.” In Los Angeles, their tour appearance(s) were the first events booked at the Nokia Theater at LA Live. I took one of my daughters (The Long-Suffering Wife couldn’t go for some reason at the last minute) and it was spectacular. Of course, “one last tour” has now turned into “four or five last tours” (the money’s good, I hear) so I also saw them a second time, in St. Louis a couple of years later when I was visiting my son while he was stationed at Scott Air Force Base.

Garth Brooks — We’ve seen him three times now since he “retired.” He did a live television concert from Staples which we saw. It was great, after the hour-long show went off the air, he played for the crowd there for another couple of hours. He also did a charity concert, which we got tickets to. Then of course he was in Las Vegas for years, doing more of a stage show with some music thrown in (I don’t think he did a single song all the way through), and we saw that. Now I hear that he’s un-retiring, so I’m sure there will be other opportunities.

Dixie Chicks — Another absolutely favorite group of mine that I’ve seen live at least four times. The best one was a charity benefit concert where there were concerts simultaneously all over the country for different genres of music, all to raise money for the same charity. We got eighth row tickets at the Gibson Amphitheater, and the concert also included (I think?) sets by Trisha Yearwood and Emmy Lou Harris. It was glorious.

Sugarland — Seen them two or three times, at least once at the Country Cookouts and at least twice as headliners.

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill — We’ve seen them separately and when they’ve been touring together. I remember seeing them at Staples on their first “Heart To Heart” tour and they had the most amazing video & digital lighting display. The stage was a giant high-definition video screen that they walked on and it was the size of a basketball court. The music was great, the electronic toys were spectacular!

Gary Moore — Did I mention that I really love great guitarists? Gary Moore was an Irish rock guitar virtuoso who played with Thin Lizzy, then had a solo career. He had a 1990 jazz-ish, rock-ish album called “Still Got The Blues” which was spectacular, especially the title song. Jeez Louise, could he make that Stratocaster sing. I only got to see him do one or two songs when he got up on stage as a guest during a Brad Paisley concert at the Universal Amphitheater. I think only about 10% of the audience recognized the name and knew who he was, but we really howled when we heard his name.

Weird Al Yankovic — I’ve seen him twice when the kids were much younger. The first time we saw him was at the Ventura County Fair. We had been at the fair all day and were roasted, then when the concert started about 8:00 or 8:30 we were freezing our freakin’ butts off. But damn does the man put on a great show! A couple years later we saw him at a concert hall in Oxnard or Ventura, and it was much more comfortable. I know a lot of you are country music fans or rock music fans or whatever, but trust me, if you get a chance to see Weird Al in concert, take it!

Phil Vassar — We’ve seen him at Country Cookouts, we’ve seen him at a small, intimate venue at the College of the Canyons, and earlier this summer we saw him at the Disney Concert Hall. He’s a favorite, puts on a great show.

Barenaked Ladies — I remember seeing them with my son. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it, but there were bits that the hardcore fans were in on that I wasn’t. It was like seeing a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Show and not understanding why they throw rice. For BNL they were throwing packets of mustard and ketchup for “If I Had A Million Dollars” and other stuff for other songs. Fun, but odd.

Guster — They were the opening band for BNL and I had never heard of them. I really liked them and ended up getting a couple of their albums. They’re still out there — I just recently heard something about a new album or concert tour for them.

Muse — Another concert that my son took me to, this time back at The Fabulous Forum. The Forum’s heyday for concerts was long past, the Lakers and Kings haven’t played there in years, and it had gone pretty far downhill (I think some megachurch had bought it cheap and was using it for that) but someone has now bought it, renovated it, and it’s booking some big concerts again. Muse was one of the first for this new phase, a favorite band of my son’s, so when they were here while he was visiting on leave, off we went. I had a good time.

Eric Bogle — In the same ilk with Stan Rogers, Eric Bogle is a wonderful Scottish-born folk singer who now hails from Australia. If nothing else, find and listen to his songs “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” and “No Man’s Land”, then “Nobody’s Moggie Now” and “The Aussie BBQ Song.” I saw him at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, a venue that seats about forty (tops!) but is great for touring folk artists.

N’Sync — Okay, there are eclectic music tastes, and then there are eclectic music tastes. Mine don’t quite stretch to include N’Sync, but despite that, I’ve seen them at least three times that I can remember, and it might have been more. One of my daughters and her friends were a bit obsessed when they were in the teens, and being the good dad, I took a van full of screaming young ladies to see N’Sync at the Rose Bowl, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, and at Staples. There are some great stories there, but for now, just go look for the “Sad Dad” pictures going around showing dads taking their daughters to New Direction concerts. Same thing, just ten to fifteen years ago. As for the music, it’s not that bad. I wasn’t the demographic they were targeting, but it could have been worse.

Pink — She opened for N’Sync at the Rose Bowl in 2000 on the “No Strings Attached” tour. 70,000 young ladies and Sad Dads were pretty much ignoring her because she wasn’t Justin, Lance, Joey, Chris, or JC (jeez, it scares the shit out of me that I just typed their names without having to look them up!), but I thought she was really, really good. Turns out I was right.

Then there are a whole metric ton of country music singers and bands that we’ve seen either as headliners, opening acts, or mid-show acts at a Country Cookout festival.

  • Rascal Flatts — At least twice as headliners, and before that as an opening act.
  • Kenny Chesney — Saw him at least once at Staples and last year with Tim McGraw at Anaheim Stadium.
  • Keith Urban — At least twice, puts on a great show. The guy with the “I’ll let you kiss my wife if I can kiss yours” sign might have been a set-up and part of the show, but it was still funny.
  • Trisha Yearwood — With the Dixie Chicks at the benefit concert, with Garth Brooks, and on her own once or twice.
  • Reba McEntire — In Las Vegas, a great show.
  • Toby Keith — Two or three times, including twice at the big amphitheater (I don’t remember what corporate sponsor has the naming rights at the moment) at Glen Helen Regional Park. (We refer to it as “Glen Hell & Gone” since it’s a ways out of town, on the road toward Las Vegas.) One of those shows was like the Ventura County Fair event mentioned above, hotter than hell during the day, then freezing cold with about a forty knot wind at night. I don’t know if I’ve ever been colder.
  • Jason Aldean — We saw him at one of the Irvine Country Cookouts as a really early opening act when he just had his first single out. It was obvious even then that he was going places.
  • Miranda Lambert — We saw her with Keith Urban at Staples two years ago, with floor seats about ten rows back. “The House That Made Me” was worth the price of admission.
  • Willy Nelson — He was the prime, closing, headliner act at one of the Country Cookouts. We left after three or four songs. It was late, we were tired, and most importantly, we weren’t impressed. Sorry.
  • Dwight Yoakam — He was the headliner at a concert at The Greek Theater and another artist that truly didn’t do anything for us. I think we had a friend give us the tickets or something? Anyway, Dwight apparently makes some of the women scream because of his painted-on jeans, but he didn’t do anything for us. On the other hand…
  • Lyle Lovett — He was the opening act for Dwight Yoakam and we expected nothing. He’s an actor, right? Married to Julia Roberts or something? What’s he doing as an opening act at The Greek? New flash — what he’s doing is absolutely blowing our socks off. He was fantastic, amazing, fun, a complete joy to see. Who knew?
  • Brooks & Dunn
  • Martina McBride
  • Jo Dee Messina
  • Sara Evans
  • Lonestar
  • Justin Moore
  • And probably a couple dozen more who were opening acts and never went past that stage in their careers, for good reason.

I was shocked recently to find out that the husband of one of my high school classmates was at Woodstock! If I only had a time machine, THAT’s the concert I would go back to see.

What’s the best concert you’ve ever seen? The best venue? The most memorable?

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September 9, 2014 · 22:36

Bands I’ve Never Seen

As I drove out to the hanger this morning, I turned on my usual Sirius/XM channel (#33, First Wave, of course) and they were just starting “Dead Man’s Party.” I, of course, cranked it up to eleven, which is both wonderful and dangerous. Wonderful because it’s really fantastic to just wallow in the song and sing along. Dangerous because it’s easy to be driving at about 85 without noticing it when you’re rocking out. The local constabulary frowns on that.

As often happens when listening to Oingo Boingo, there was a touch of melancholy when the song was over, because it’s extremely likely that I’ll never get to see them in concert. Danny Elfman has had some hearing-loss problems from his earlier rock & roll days and has stated that he will never perform in concert again. We’ll just have to live with all of the great music that he’s now composing for movie soundtracks. That, and cranking it up to an eleven when we’re alone in the car.

That thought in turn got me to thinking of other bands that I would really, REALLY like to see live, but either haven’t yet or won’t ever be able to for some reason or the other. In only the most vague sense of order from most lusted after on downward…

Oingo Boingo — see above. The mix of punk & rock & horns is just perfect. Especially the horns. No one else used a brass section in rock as much as Oingo!

Pink Floyd — I know that Roger Waters is touring with a bunch of musicians that do bits from “The Wall” and other Pink Floyd albums, and I would go see it if I get the chance, but what I really want is the whole group, and that’s not going to happen.

Jethro Tull — Loved them since the 1970’s, I’m a sucker for rock & roll flute. They’re actually still touring as of a year or so ago, so this one might still happen.

The Who — “Tommy,” the first rock opera. “Quadrophenia.” “Behind Blue Eyes.” “Baba O’Riley.” Of the three first rock & roll supergroups, this is the one I would have killed to see live.

Genesis (not just Phil Collins) — I would like to see Phil Collins solo, mind you, but seeing the group re-unite on tour would be amazing.

Depeche Mode — Along with Oingo Boingo, the best of the 80’s, punk, and alternative.

Jean-Michel Jarre — I suspect many of you will have never heard of Jean-Michel Jarre. I would recommend that you take care of that gaping hole in your lives. Start with “Oxygene” as I did back in about 1977 when a co-worker gave me a tape and said, “YOU HAVE GOT TO LISTEN TO THIS!” Jarre has done spectacular concert events with 100,000+ people showing up, because he only does them every few years. The last few have been done in Asia and Europe, but if he would do one here, I would be there.

Amanda Palmer — Words can’t describe how much I admire this woman, her music, her art, her Twitter feed, and her TED Talk. It’s not a matter of “if” I will see her, it’s a matter of “when” and “how many times.” But I haven’t seen her in concert yet.

Stan Rogers — An incredible artist taken from us way too early. If you’re not familiar with his work, pick up “Northwest Passage.” Or “From Fresh Water.” Or any one of his other eight albums. Many, many years ago I had an opportunity to see him at McCabe’s in Santa Monica and I didn’t take it. There will always be next time, right?

Santana — Still touring from time to time, I may yet get a chance. “Abraxas” spun my head around in 1970. I still have the vinyl, the one that had the sticker over the naked black woman on the front cover. I can still do wicked air guitar to “Oye cómo va.”

Pet Shop Boys — Just to hear them do their mashup “Where The Streets Have No Name/Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” would be worth the price of admission. But there’s so much else as well.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young — They had me hooked with that infamous line at Woodstock. If you can listen to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and not do the “do-do-do-do doots” at the end, we might not be able to be friends.

Supertramp — “Breakfast In America” was an album on which I just about wore right through the vinyl due to all the constant replays. Have I mentioned how much I love rock & roll piano? Listen to the long, wonderful, piano solo in “Child Of Vision” and be happy no matter how lousy the day was.

Blood, Sweat & Tears — David Clayton Thomas and the boys were another rock & roll group that didn’t always fit the rock & roll mold. Fantastic musicians, great songs.

Billy Joel — The original piano man, a great storyteller. He periodically tours and does Vegas, so it might happen. I assume that we’ll all get to sing along?

There are a whole bunch of folk-ish artists from the 60’s that aren’t with us any more that I wanted to see:

  • Steve Goodman — “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request” and “City of New Orleans” are huge favorites of mine.
  • Tom Lehrer — No one did political and social satire like him.
  • John Denver — Some folks think his music is a bit syrupy, but I find it very sincere and full of joy.
  • Jim Croce — Yet another artist taken from us way too soon.

There are still a few folk-ish artists who are still here and I might still get lucky:

  • Arlo Guthrie — Dare I hope that I could hear him do “Alice’s Restaurant” for a Thanksgiving concert?
  • Jackson Brown — “Running On Empty,” “Doctor My Eyes,” and finally, “The Load Out”
  • James Taylor — Sweet Baby James
  • Chicago — I know they’re still touring, but I don’t want to hear them do anything after the first three albums. Sorry, they were great when they were angry and protesting the Vietnam War, and just seriously pissed off and full of righteous indignation. Plus, I have I mentioned how I love a horn section in rock & roll? And rock & roll flute, as in “Happy Cause I’m Going Home?” Once they got pop and started putting out things like “Bungle In The Jungle” they were dead to me.

From my teen years:

  • Jimi Hendrix — Oh, sweet heaven, could he play the electric guitar. His set from Woodstock was amazing. It was only a few years ago that I realized that it was done at about 4:30 AM. That will wake ’em up!
  • Frank Zappa — Indescribable, his music kept me at least half sane with my college days work schedule. Remember, don’t eat yellow snow!
  • Queen — Wouldn’t it be great to hear “Bohemian Rhapsody” done live? Flamboyant Freddie Mercury, burned out too quickly. On the other hand, Brian May’s still around, with a Ph.D. in astrophysics for his daytime gig these days. If that’s not truth being stranger than fiction, I don’t know what is.
  • Heart — I think there’s actually a chance to see them this week at the LA County Fair. Maybe next year.
  • Boston — I think they’re still touring as well, so maybe it will happen.
  • The Guess Who — Last I heard there were two or three versions of the original group out there doing county fairs and small venues, each one headlined by one of the original band members. Can’t we all just get along, and maybe do a tour with some decent sized crowds?
  • Meat Loaf — Like a bat out of hell, that’s how I would be moving if I got the chance to see him.
  • Moody Blues – Electronic rock & roll done by classically trained musicians. Works for me!
  • Yes — “Fragile” was another album that I just about ground to dust with all of the repeats.

From my punk, alternative, new wave college years:

  • Linkin Park — Okay, so they came out way after my college years, but I still have at times been a bit obsessed over several of their albums. At one of their concerts I would stick out like a sore thumb, but I could live with that.
  • The Police / Sting — Do they still tour? If they do, is it even conceivable that tickets might be available for less than an exchange for your first born?
  • U2 / Bono — See “The Police / Sting” above.
  • Blondie — I believe Debbie Harry is still doing some gigs, I don’t know if she’s with any other members of the band. My favorite rock & roll T-shirt from my college years had her picture on it. I don’t know where it is today, which is probably just as well. I don’t think the world is ready to see me try to fit into it.
  • The Smiths (not just Morrissey) — Another group that’s never, ever getting back together. Morrissey periodically tries to put out a solo album and tour, but he’s got some issues, both with his health and with his eccentricities.
  • Tonio K — One huge punk album that I remember (“Life In The Foodchain”) but the last I had heard, somewhere along the line he had a significant life change. He’s now doing gospel and Christian rock? The guy who did “H-A-T-R-E-D” with those lyrics? Jeez Louise!
  • REM — Lots of fantastic hits, I’ve seen them on some of the old MTV studio concert bits on television. I don’t know that they would be great in a stadium, but in a much smaller venue, just a thousand seats or so? That would be delicious!
  • Pat Benatar — Hard core, kick ass, rock & roll. Hit me with your best shot!
  • Pretenders — A group that I remember being able to leave my graveyard shift boss just agog. He was a tad straight laced, we needed the music to stay awake, he often couldn’t believe what we were listening to.
  • Yello — They had more than the one hit, lots of their stuff is very weird, almost like electronic sound poems with tons of odd rhythms, sound bite mixing, sampling, and sound effects. Oh, Yeah!
  • Alanis Morissette — “Jagged Little Pill” was full of some really powerful and moving anger. Things dropped off after that, but I hear that her new stuff from the past couple of years is very good. I’ll have to check it out. What would really be interesting is hearing her takes on some of those anger-driven songs now that she’s matured and mellowed.
  • Huey Lewis & The News — The heart of rock & roll. Just fun music, I’ll bet they were (are?) a blast to see live.

The Beatles — Included as much for completeness as anything else. I’m not and never have been a huge Beatles fan, although there are plenty of their songs that I enjoy. I’m just not a fanatic. Of course, they’ll never get back together now, but it would have been nice to see them back in the day, just to say that I had done it, if nothing else.

Finally, there are a bunch of country artists/groups that are still quite active and touring, we just haven’t gotten the opportunity to see them live yet. As “bucket list” material goes, seeing them will be pretty low hanging fruit.

  • Alison Krauss
  • Dierks Bentley
  • The Band Perry
  • Lady Antebellum
  • Darius Rucker
  • Zac Brown Band
  • Blake Shelton

Who’s not on the list that has you shocked and horrified that I would forget them, or worse, not want to see them? The Rolling Stones? Bruce Springsteen? Elton John?

Who’s on the list that you just can’t wrap your head around, especially when matched with others on the list? (Stan Rogers and Tonio K? Really?)

Who would be on your list?

The comments are open.

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Filed under Music, Paul

August 20, 2014 · 20:42

Tripping Back To The Sixties

I tweaked a shoulder a couple of months ago (getting old is not for the timid) and finally had it looked at when it didn’t heal on its own. Today I got to see a physical therapist, which had me humming this song all afternoon.

That in turn got me going off into hyperlink heaven (or hell – it’s a fine line) with a string of the other “related” videos that YouTube suggested. Boyce & Hart. The Status Quo. Small Faces. Manfred Mann. (Our neighbors across the street were the Quinn family, I was young enough to think they might be related.) The Cowsills! Paul Revere & The Raiders. (I think we actually saw them, or at least some current incarnation of them, at a Cal State Northridge Fourth of July fireworks show about fifteen year ago.)

Jeez Louise, will that mess up your head. It’s only fair, goes along with my messed up arm. (It will be fine, just makes me wince and cry out in anguish any time I have to reach in back of me right now, like when I pull my keys out of my pants pocket or try to put on a shirt or jacket. The Long Suffering Wife hates it when I whimper.)

Meanwhile, back in the Twenty-First Century, the poor PT tech probably doesn’t get many folks with my sense of humor. That could be a good thing, or not. But, for example, when he wants to use the ultrasound machine to get some heat into the damaged shoulder, he was confused when I asked if we would be able to tell if it was a boy or a girl.

In general, I’ve found that most medical professionals have issues with people with a weird sense of humor. What I think of as snappy repartee to lighten up what could be a grim and painful encounter, they often want to take as a literal description of a physical problem. (Or signs of an obvious mental problem, but so far I’ve managed to dodge that bullet.) And they really, really don’t like smart ass comments about the annual prostate exam. (Like this one.) I have learned through experience that the prostate exam jokes are best delivered after the exam rather than before. Fewer opportunities for them to express their opinion of my material while they’ve got a finger buried to the second knuckle.

On the other hand, most (not all) of the receptionists and desk workers seem to be happy to talk to anyone who isn’t either in terrible pain, horribly depressed, or just wanting to dump on them because of something that wasn’t their fault. When they try to sign you up for a 6AM appointment, a couple of friendly wisecracks will get you the much better 8:45 appointment. (I wouldn’t show up for a 6AM appointment if it were for my own funeral! For Rush Limbaugh’s funeral, yes, but not for mine. Ba-da-dum-BAM! Thank you, I’ll be here all week, tip your waitress, and I’ll see you at 8:45.)

The doctor’s office. A tough crowd. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

 

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July 23, 2014 · 18:59

Odds & Sods For Wednesday, July 23rd

Item The First: Since you’re all cool and wonderful and “in the know” type folks (hey, you read this every day, right?) I’m sure you’ve all already seen this ultra-fantastic video. But just in case you’ve been too busy fighting crime and saving civilization, go watch it now! It’s one of those “why didn’t I think of that?!” things where it’s obvious once someone else has done it and now you’ll see everyone doing it, but this is the first that I’ve seen and it is just awe-inspiring.

Jos Stiglingh took a DJI Phantom 2 amateur drone capable of going up several hundred feet and (probably) a half-mile or so from the operator, attached a high-def GoPro camera – then flew it into the Sunfest 2014 fireworks display in West Palm Beach, Florida! The soundtrack was originally “Con Te Partiro” by tenor Andrea Bocelli and it was perfect — apparently there were copyright issues and now it’s got a hard-driving techno soundtrack that SoundHound can’t identify.

Either way, if this isn’t the most stunning video you see today, you’ve obviously had a much more interesting day than I have!

Item The Second: And then there’s that moment when you hear your computer going nuts, the “Windows Default Beep” sounding off like DingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDing… You figure that it’s probably smoking and tossing bits of the hard disk all over the room and you’re desperately trying to remember how recent your last full backup was, until you find that it’s just the freakin’ cat who decided to sit down on the keyboard and start bathing.

Item The Third: Has anyone else noticed that the ebola outbreak in Africa is still growing? Even three and a half months after we were told not to worry, “it’s quite difficult to transmit” and “the risks are quite small.” Now it’s blown way past all previous outbreaks to be the largest ever, both in terms of the number of people infected (over a thousand), the number of fatalities (632), and the size of the region showing cases (started in Guinea, has now spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone as well). To show just how bad it’s getting, the top researcher in Sierra Leone’s effort to combat the outbreak now has contracted the disease himself.

They will let us know when to worry, right? Or do we wait until we see Brad Pitt running past us, pursued by zombies?

Item The Fourth: As a long, LONG time fan of Weird Al Yankovic’s music, it’s great to see his new “Mandatory Fun” album hitting the charts at #1. We’ve seen him a couple of times in concert over the years and he really puts on a great show. His parodies are great and many of his original songs are wonderful. The “polka mashups” on many of his albums are sheer genius. He’s a treasure.

Over the last week he’s been releasing videos from the new album, eight videos in eight days. The first couple, “Tacky” (apparently one long tracking shot?!) and “Word Crimes” (superb and clever animation) were outstanding, and on “First World Problems,” one of my other all-time favorite people-who-happen-to-be-musicians, Amanda Palmer, sings backup.

Item The Fifth: Speaking of music, what’s your walk-up music? I asked this question a while back and I’m sure that you’ve all been giving it a lot of thought. Feel free to drop your answers into the comments, but for me, I think it would depend on my mood.

If I wanted to freak out the opposition and see if anyone was actually listening to the words of a song they almost certainly hadn’t heard before, I would use the chorus of Julia Ecklar’s “Temper of Revenge.” I would use the more upbeat and angry version off of the “Divine Intervention” album (which you can buy here, hint, hint). “Find me a horse / As red as the sun / Find me a blade / That will make their blood run / I will ride out at dawn / While the sun’s in the sky / So the buzzards can see / Where the bodies will lie.” Yeah, that would get their attention.

If I just wanted to be unconventional and weird, what better than some of the above-mentioned “Weird Al” Yankovic? Although it would be tough to decide whether to use one of his parodies (to see if anyone’s actually listening and notices that it’s not the original) or one of his great original songs.

But let’s say that those plans are nixed by either a stodgy team management or by the Prince of Darkness himself. What can I get away with for a more “conventional” choice? After all, they’ve allowed “Sympathy For The Devil” and heavy metal tunes such as “Enter Sandman” have become routine. So, surely I could use something like Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves Of London” or Frank Zappa’s (NSFW!) “Dinah Moe Humm”

To push the boundaries completely, how about TonioK’s (pretty NSFW) “H-A-T-R-E-D” or The Nails’ (yeah, a great song, but NSFW) “Eighty-Eight Lines About Forty-Four Women”? Or go completely to the opposite extreme (as Josh Reddick of the Oakland A’s did) and use something like “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked” or Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne”?

What mood would I be in today?

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Filed under Cats, Computers, Fireworks, Flying, Health, Music, Odds & Sods

June 28, 2014 · 21:48

No Phil Vassar Photography?

Last night The Long-Suffering Wife and I (and our niece) went to a concert. With one odd exception (which of course, will be the one I rant about at length) it was a wonderful evening.

The venue was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. It’s truly an exceptional place to go to a concert. Aside from its iconic architectural status (designed by Frank Gehry), it is acoustically nearly perfect. The primary concert program tenant there is the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It’s a relatively small room, only 2,265 seats, so there literally is not a bad seat in the house. There are even tiers of seats behind the stage as well as in front and on the sides. We’ll have to get tickets for those seats sometime.

I’ve been there before with my daughter to hear classical organ music. (There’s a monstrously huge pipe organ built in with a pipe structure that’s as much fine art as it is functional.) It was The Long-Suffering Wife’s first trip there. The headlining artist was her absolute favorite, Phil Vassar.

While the Disney Concert Hall has hosted a wide variety of artists, it seemed that this was the first time that a country-western artist had performed there. It was fun to see the staff in their black and white semi-formal wear interacting with the country fans in cowboy hats, boots, T-shirts, and so on. It was an interesting intersection of diverse segments of society.

We’ve seen Phil Vassar several times before, including in some fairly small venues. We both love his music, and his shows are even better. He puts on an extremely fun, energetic, sing-along show, not only with his hits, but also mixing in some unconventional (but no less fun) tunes. Last night this included “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” from The Proclaimers, “Stay” by Maurice Williams and made a #1 hit by the Four Seasons, and “Summer Nights” from “Grease.”

The short version — we would both highly recommend you go see a Phil Vassar concert when he comes to your area.

The one oddity that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was the concert hall policy regarding photography, and the aggressive and inconsistent enforcement of it by the ushers and staff. To be blunt, what planet and what decade are these people living in? (I’m betting the ushers just have a job to do and get fired if they’re not hopping, so it’s some set of senior managers that I think are totally out of touch.)

We were told when we entered that no photography would be allowed in the theater. Right. Standard disclaimer. Blah, blah, blah.

Then they actually started jumping all over folks for taking pictures with their cell phones. We were there early and in our seats twenty minutes or more before the first opening act started. We saw dozens of people (taking selfies and pictures of the empty stage) get politely told that they really meant it, NO PHOTOGRAPHY! The couple sitting next to us said that he had been told that if they didn’t obey they would be kicked out of the concert.

REALLY??

I understand that they want to protect their music and images, so they don’t want videos and recordings on the internet. I’m sure that it’s much less a problem with the tuxedo and evening gown crowd that are there to see the LA Phil. But to a mainstream concert crowd at a country, rock, pop, or other concert? Surely you can’t be serious.

Thirty years ago, it was a big deal. More importantly, it was orders of magnitude easier to enforce. Cameras used film, recordings used cassettes, and you bought your music on “record albums.” If you were cutting edge, you might be buying those new-fangled “compact discs.” Because the photography and recording bans were easy to enforce, the only things that survive today (aside from all of the “official” stuff) are a few really bad Instamatic photos and some really crappy bootleg recordings. (Except for the Grateful Dead concerts. They were pioneers.)

That’s changed. 100%. 360 degrees. It’s a whole new universe out there and it’s been that way for going on ten years. Now it’s a sure bet that 99.999% of the folks in the room have a smart phone that can take pictures, record sound, and probably record HD video. It’s totally unrealistic to try to enforce a “no photography” policy.

Even worse, the people we saw getting warned were not recording any music. They were taking pictures of the really neat concert hall and the empty stage. Most were taking selfies of themselves and their friends in the really neat concert hall. I would love to hear the justification for trying to ban those kinds of pictures. Really, I’m serious, if you work for the Disney Concert Hall or LA Philharmonic, let me know.

Because the artists on stage had nothing to do with that policy. Phil Vassar actually opened his show by walking out on stage with a cell phone, taking pictures of the audience. He repeatedly throughout his concert, while singing, was down at the front of the stage, posing with fans who were taking pictures and video of the concert. Ditto (to a slightly lesser extent) with the two opening acts.

I haven’t been to a concert in years where a total ban on photos was in effect. If I try to bring in a professional camera and a huge telephoto lens, I’ll get turned away. No problem. Ditto if I have a tripod. Ditto if I whipped out a high-end HD video camera, even though they’re quite small enough to smuggle in these days. I get that the artists (or at least their management companies) don’t want unauthorized professional recordings and photos taken. That’s how they make their money. I get it, I agree, no problem.

But amateur, jumpy, lousy audio cellphone video? Selfies to put up on FaceBook or Instagram to say, “Hey, I’m at the concert!”? Grainy and blurry cellphone pictures taken at maximum digital zoom in extreme lighting conditions?

Aside from the simple and obvious fact that it’s flat out impossible to enforce such a ban, there’s no reasonable or logical reason to do so. None of those images or recordings are reducing your income or revenue. Not a dime. But harassing and pissing off your fans? THAT will reduce your revenue.

Do those up and coming opening acts (or even the well-established headliners) want their music “stolen” by people who are going to reduce their sales? No, obviously not. But that’s not what’s happening. The amount of revenue lost because someone got a copy of a cellphone video from a concert and didn’t spend 99¢ to download the song from Amazon has got to be infinitesimal.

Do those up and coming opening acts (or even the well-established headliners) want hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of fans posting concert pictures on social media and going off on how great the concerts were? Do they want “buzz” as new fans stumble on them? You bet your ass they do. That’s better than gold these days. (Check out social media or official web pages for almost any artist – most encourage fans to take pictures.)

So why would anyone in their right minds ever have a “no photos” policy, let alone try to enforce one?

Which leads to the final point that made the policy unreasonable. The folks who got there early and were taking pictures were warned by the staff. The folks who got there fifteen minutes later, just before the opening act, never got a word said to them. Throughout all three acts, particularly the Phil Vassar concert, I would estimate that easily 30% to 40% of the audience were taking pictures and video. Not a word was said to any of them, nor should there have been. Obviously.

So why jump all over folks who happened to be the first ones in? I get it, they were easy to spot and the ushers weren’t busy. If you’re the manager who really has a bug up your ass about this policy, that’s when you’re going to have your staff doing token enforcement. But to totally, 100% abandon that token enforcement as soon as the place started to fill up? That’s just random harassment. It’s totally unjustified.

Did I record video on my cellphone last night? No, I didn’t. I’ve done it at dozens of other concerts over the years, including previous Phil Vassar concerts. Last night was about enjoying the concert and making sure that Ronnie enjoyed it, not about me getting so-so recordings of it.

Did I take pictures on my cellphone last night? Not really. There was no need, I’ve got pictures of the concert hall from when I’ve been there before (and been a “scofflaw”).

photoBut I did take this picture near the end of the concert, just to thumb my nose a bit at this stupid policy. See that reddish blob in the center? That’s Phil Vassar!

Trust me.

(I actually like this picture as an abstract image. It contains everything and nothing, simultaneously.)

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Filed under Music, Photography, Ronnie

June 4, 2014 · 22:38

Odds & Sods For Wednesday, June 3rd

Item The First: Living in any big city it seems that you can see a little bit of anything. (not so much in a rural area or small town, but I could be wrong.) One thing about Los Angeles is that this phenomenon is taken to a whole new dimension at times. It can be a really odd place.

The latest demonstration of this I’ve seen is a large number of men who are shaving their heads, so they look like Telly Savalas or this Republican dude running for governor. But they find that their skin is pasty white and pale under all of that stubble, making them look more like Marine recruits on their first day of boot camp. To solve this in turn, they apparently go and get a spray tan.

Unfortunately, too often the spray tans are pretty orange-ish. That’s a good way to tell actually, you don’t get that particular shade of orange-brown by any natural method known to man. But looking silly and fake and plastic has never stopped anyone in LA, so they do it anyway.

Then they cluster together, presumably because they’re co-workers or peers of some sort. Or maybe they just belong to the same cult.

Either way, they end up looking like the love children of Oompa Loompas and Mr. Clean, in business suits.

Item The Second: In January, the US first class postal rate went from 46¢ to 49¢. Most of us don’t even realize it happened because 99% of the stamps the USPOD has sold for several years are the “Forever” stamps, good for whatever the first class rate happens to be when you use them.

The USPOD touts this as a great thing and when rates are going up they urge everyone to buy a bunch at the older, lower rate so they can have them and save the extra couple of cents until your stockpile runs out.

But that assumes that the rates are always going to go up. That’s a pretty solid assumption in general — have the rates ever gone down? But this time, the Postal Commission decreed that the increase was temporary, and in three years the rates must go back down to 46.

I wouldn’t bet on that happening, but assuming for the moment that it does, will everyone get their three cents per stamp back on all of the “Forever” stamps they have, or will the USPOD just pocket all that money?

I guess it’s only fair if they do since they’ve eaten the difference when rates have gone up. Plus, it’s not like we’re talking a ton of money. Businesses all use postage machines, it’s just the little guys like you and me who buy stamps (how archaic!), and most of us have, what? Maybe a roll of 100 stamps at most, probably just a sheet of 20 (partially used). So we’re talking 60¢ to $3.00 or so per household? Except $2.00 a household times 115,226,802 households is a $230,457,604 windfall…

My brain wonders about things like this. It’s possible that it’s broken.

Item The Third: We were watching the US vs. Turkey “friendly” soccer match this last weekend and for kicks we were watching Univision, the Spanish language network. Their announcers are much more fun to listen to when a goal is scored, regardless of who scores it. Despite our command of the language gained by twelve weeks of community college conversational Spanish last year (non-graded, one class a week, no homework, and we bailed on about a third of the classes), we weren’t picking up more than one word in a hundred, and feeling grateful for that one word.

When that got old (and discouraging) we switched over to ESPN, where they had (I think) an English announcer and an Irish announcer.

We didn’t do any better understanding them.

Item The Fourth: In baseball these days it’s a thing for everyone on the home team to have “walk-on music” which plays as they walk up to the plate to bat, or for relief pitchers as they run in from the bullpen. This practice has gotten some attention recently when some players chose some rather unconventional music samples.

Usually you will hear something rock and roll, pop, rap, or maybe country. “Enter Sandman,” “Welcome To The Jungle,” something from Led Zeppelin, “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy,” whatever. There have been practical jokes where some players will bribe the guys running the PA system to play the “wrong” music for a teammate, using a tune from a kid’s TV show or something, but that’s a one-time thing for laughs.

Recently, Josh Reddick of the Oakland Athletics has changed his walk-on music to Wham’s “Careless Whisper.” This has gotten quite a bit of attention, as well as a bit of a cult following with the Oakland fans. It’s not so clear that it’s helped his batting — a quick perusal of today’s MLB American League stats doesn’t show him anywhere in the top forty in any batting category.

But it’s bizarre and unusual, and I like that.

Item The Fifth: When shooting pictures of the lunar eclipse in April, one thing I noticed was that many pictures were blurry due to motion of the camera when the shutter was triggered. With the simple setup I was using I’ll never get rid of that entirely, but there are steps that can be taken to minimize the worst of it.

In particular, a lot of the vibration and motion comes when you physically push down on the button on the camera to take the picture. This gets worse the longer the exposure is, because on most cameras you have to keep holding the button down for as long as you want the shutter open. Needless to say, no matter how careful and steady you try to be, your hand is wiggling and so is the camera.

On a DSLR (as opposed to a point & shoot or smartphone camera) there are other ways to trigger the shutter. I knew that there were remote controls which plug into the camera electronically, and trigger the camera via a radio transmitter. Sort of like a garage door opener, only it takes the picture instead.

Especially for astrophotography, this is extremely useful since it will eliminate all of the vibration and blur caused when you physically touch the camera while taking the picture. A good radio remote control trigger also lets you do things like set up the camera on the roof and then remotely trigger it when you hear the raccoons rampaging about up there.

I thought that these things were hundreds of dollars and I really didn’t want to spend that kind of money right now. But, catching the assumption in my calculation, I was pleased to see that they’re under $20 from China via mail order. Who knew?

That’s one of the reasons the ISS transit pictures were so steady, I’m using the new toy to trigger the exposures. Next, the raccoons!

Item The Sixth: So, what would your walk-on music be? I’ll let you know my thoughts on mine in the next “Odds & Sods”. I would love to hear your thoughts about what you would pick (and why) in the comments.

 

 

 

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Filed under Astronomy, Critters, Los Angeles, Music, Odds & Sods, Photography, Politics, Sports

February 11, 2014 · 22:51

Extremes

I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about extremes in human nature. It’s a theme that you see regularly here and there, in all genres of fiction. In particular, I see it a lot in science fiction.

On the one hand, we can create fine art in all forms. Mozart’s 40th, Beethoven’s 5th, and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon.” “The Godfather” movies, “Bridge On The River Kwai”, and “Field Of Dreams.” Picasso, Rembrandt, Renoir. Shakespeare, Twain, Dickens.

On the other hand, we can destroy more horribly and thoroughly than any plague of locust. Gallipoli. Gettysburg. Dresden.

On the one hand, we can build great cities and buildings. New York, Paris, Shanghai. St. Peter’s Basilica, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Burj Khalifa.

On the other hand, we can abuse and misuse our talents and create monsters. Chernobyl. Love Canal. Climate change.

On the one hand, we can perform incredible acts of bravery and kindness. Mother Theresa. Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson Mandela.

On the other hand, we can inflict horrible acts of cruelty and hatred. Adolf Hitler. Idi Amin. Pol Pot.

On the one hand, we can do incredible things to better the lives of everyone. Medicine. Education. Communications.

On the other hand, we can treat our fellow humans as if they were nothing. Slavery. Bigotry and repression. The Holocaust.

On the one hand, we can create and discover and invent unbelievable things. Gutenberg. Edison. Apollo 11.

On the other hand, we can turn our backs on reality and let our darkest fears take us. Jonestown. The Manson family. Suicide bombers.

You get the picture.

Without darkness, how can we know what light is? Without sorrow, how can we savor joy? Without hatred, how would we learn to value love?

How can we as a culture, as a society, as a species be so amazing, awesome, and incredibly fantastic, while at the same time being so hateful, despicable, and disgusting?

More importantly, how can we as individuals maintain balance and reconcile this duality, both within ourselves and in the world as a whole? When the news and the comments section of just about any internet article make you think there are no redeeming values to humanity, how can you remember that each of us can love and be loved? When the horrors of the world threaten to blind you, how can you remember to look at all of the beauty in the world?

In science fiction, these extremes and this dichotomy is often shown in how an alien species might judge mankind. For example, in “The Fifth Element,” Leeloo is almost overwhelmed by human’s propensity for war and destruction and must find love to see if it’s enough to balance out the horror. At the end of Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit, Will Travel,” Kip and the Mother Thing must defend humanity in a galactic court judging whether or not humans are too dangerous to be allowed to live. In the “Star Trek” adaptation of Fredric Brown’s “Arena”, Kirk and the Gorn fight to the death to see which species will survive, but Kirk’s refusal to kill the Gorn when he can shows that humans have “potential.” The character of Q is a recurring force in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, judging mankind and weighing the opposing aspects of good and evil in our actions and nature.

With all of that in mind, what’s been on my mind has been whether or not this range of extremes is a good thing or a bad thing if and/or when we ever encounter another, superior alien race, or even a full-blown galactic civilization. (I’m not getting into the whole Fermi Paradox thing right now.)

Will we be judged as too extreme, too unpredictable, and therefore too dangerous or immature as a species?

Or will these extremes and fundamental dichotomies be judged to be a great strength, giving us flexibility, strength, and adaptability? “With great power…” and all of that.

I wish that I had an answer. I just know that now, I seem to be surfing the highs some days and being beaten by the lows on others.

“Balance” is not the same as “average.” I don’t know if the world’s getting more extreme, or if it’s just my perception of it.

Finally, while my knee-jerk reaction on the “down” days is to wish for less amplitude with higher lows and lower highs, I hesitate to voice that wish too loudly since it would also mean a world with less exhilarating and spectacular peaks.

I don’t know which scares me more, thinking that I’ll never find an answer, or fearing that I will find it but will then not be able to hang onto it or share it with others.

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Filed under Art, Music, Politics, Science Fiction

February 2, 2014 · 23:56

A Few Hundred Notes On Today’s Big Sporting Event

Note that I’m not trying to be snarky titling it this way, I just don’t want to get sued for trademark infringement. That big national sports league has a LOT of lawyers that need something to do until fall.

Secondly, if you’re trying to avoid spoilers because you haven’t seen the game yet (hi, Steve!) you can stop reading now.

Finally, for what it’s worth, my grades are at the end for each commercial, where applicable. Times are Pacific Standard, ’cause that’s where I live!

  • 15:00 I’ll be taking notes, primarily on the commercials, since I pretty much don’t want either team to win. If my beloved Chiefs can’t be there, I will insist on being pissy. Pbbbbbbbt!
  • 15:06 “A Million Ways To Die In The West” looks pretty funny. We saw a trailer for it in the theater yesterday.
  • 15:11 “Captain America: Winter Soldier” looks like a good, solid summer FX blockbuster. It’s not supposed to be Masterpiece Theater.
  • 15:13 Met Life ad — with Schroeder playing the National Anthem on his piano at midfield and the “Peanuts” gang joining him, this was great. Very well done, very classy, especially since the game’s at Met Life Stadium. (B+)
  • 15:14 Old ad for Sprint, along with ads for Fox’s “American Idol” (which I would only watch if you put a gun to my head), “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (which is actually pretty good), and an old NFL Play 60 ad.
  • 15:19 Rene Fleming really belts out the National Anthem and hits every note, as we would expect from an honest-to-god opera diva. But she still sings it too slow. It’s a drinking song, not a dirge!
  • 15:24 “Noah” looks… I’m speechless, almost. I had heard they were making this, but I had no idea they had real acting stars and a huge FX budget for it. It will be interesting to see if it bombs or if the religious crowd push it into the black. On the other hand, Charlton Heston was Moses in “The Ten Commandments”, so I may be dead wrong. But really?
  • 15:25 Kickstarter/Mountain Dew — lots of pretty fireworks & rockets. I get it, it’s an energy drink, they want part of Red Bull’s market share. Whatever. (C)
  • 15:25 McDonalds McNuggets ad, not that new — but I just think that the “Bad Lip Reading” ads (and the videos that started the idea) are just the funniest thing in years. They crack me up every single time. (A-)
  • 15:26 Old ad for T-Mobile along with teasers for “New Girl” after the game and the Daytona 500 later in February. It’s annoying, but this is how Fox (or any other network) justifies spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the rights to these games. You may safely assume that at almost every commercial break we’re getting at least one, and often several, quick promos for some Fox show or another.
  • 15:28 The coin toss. Joe Namath looks good for his age. He may not have had class, but he most certainly had style. He came into a league that was dull as dishwasher with players as individualized as a bucket of oatmeal and changed the game forever. Now the ref almost messes up the coin toss by giving him the coin too early, before all of the legalese is done. A nice catch in mid-air though to stop a potential controversy. Ref’s got skills!
  • 15:30 Two ads for the Ford Fusion Hybrid, the first with Rob Riggle (another loyal KC Chiefs fan!) and the second with James Franco reprising the Rob Riggle role. It’s an odd set of ads, pretty well done, attention getting, but silly. (B-)
  • 15:35 Kickoff
  • 15:37 Major screw up by Denver on the first play of the game gives Seattle a safety. It’s now 2-0. There’s only seven seconds run off the clock, which has got to be the most bizarre start to one of these games EVER! The network can’t even go to a commercial in the couple of minutes it takes to kick off, it’s way too early.
  • 15:42 Bud Lite ad — The first of several in this “Are You Up For Anything” campaign that they’ve been teasing for several weeks. Flashy, extravagant, big concept, but I don’t know that I care. (B-)
  • 15:43 “The World Is Full Of Giants.” A really, really good looking ad that does a truly lousy job of selling anything. I love the philosophy, the sentiment, the inspiration, the anticipation of who the ad was for… Maserati? To a blue-collar, working class audience? Wrong demographic, guys, not even close! Did you feel it was necessary to blow all of that money on this ad because Jaguar did an ad? (A for production, D- for common sense in their marketing department)
  • 15:46 Denver’s defense steps up and they manage to hold Seattle to a field goal. 5-0, Seattle.
  • 15:47 The first of Doritos’ fan-created ads, this one “The Time Machine”. Cute, very nicely done, especially for a low-budget, amateur production. (B+)
  • 15:47 Chervolet “Romance” — poking fun at their own series of “A Man & His Truck” ads, this one had a perfect soundtrack and was very funny. (A)
  • 15:52 “Need For Speed” has the perfect trailer if they want to show that it’s simply a vehicle to put Aaron Paul on the screen for a couple of hours because he’s a big star now after “Breaking Bad.” It looks formulaic, a combination of “Cannonball Run” and “Fast & Furious. At least they got the right demographic, even if he’s not drag racing and stunt driving in a Maserati.
  • 15:53 Turbotax — Well done ad about how watching “Sean” at the prom snogging your favorite girl is like watching this game with your favorite team not there. Funny, some funky stuff in there, like stats for “Sean”, as well as watching him in slo-mo and replay after replay. Is that John C. Reilly doing the voice work? (B)
  • 16:04 Bud Light Part Two — getting more weird, but not better or funnier. Yeah, seeing Don Cheadle with a llama in an elevator is odd, but Arnold Schwarzennager looks like hell and I couldn’t care less about One Direction. I can guarantee that I’m the wrong demographic for this. (C)
  • 16:05 Beats Audio — Ellen DeGeneres is charming and I like the ad’s plot as a variation of Goldilocks & The Three Bears. The fact that she’s going to see “Into The Woods” at the beginning is a nice touch. Lots of nice touches, quirky and entertaining without being bizarre for bizarre’s sake. (Are you listening, Bud Light?) (B+)
  • 16:06 Seattle gets held to another field goal, 9-0 now. Denver’s defense is just barely keeping them alive.
  • 16:07 “Invisible” with U2 and Bono, sponsored by Bank of America. Go and get the free iTunes download within 24 hours and BofA will donate $1 to RED. Even if you don’t like U2 and won’t listen to the song, download it anyway. Help out a good cause. And the B&W video with Bono and the boys is pretty good. (A)
  • 16:08 Hyundai’s “Dad’s Sixth Sense” — funny while also getting their point across. I liked watching the beginning part where dad was constantly rescuing the kid from certain doom. Now that he’s driving and the kid is spending more time looking at girls instead of the road, the Hyundai’s auto-breaking system will keep him safe. Cute, funny. (A)
  • 16:10 Denver gets intercepted. Who are these impostors in orange and what have they done with the real Denver players?
  • 16:12 “Gracie” for Cheerios — a wonderful ad, a follow on to their great “Just Checking” ad. It was more than a little bit disgusting how many bigots and racists crawled out of their holes for the first ad last year. It’s so good to see that General Mills doubled down instead of caving in. As for this ad, it’s just as good as the first one, with the parents trying to use Cheerios to explain to the little girl that she’s going to have a little brother, and her explaining to them what’s in it for her. (A+)
  • 16:13 “A Better Web Awaits” for Squaresoft — lots of internet memes, spam, and malware come to life in a live-action, comic book-type scenario. Their way is better. Okey dokey. I’m less than impressed. (B-)
  • 16:13 “The 80’s Called” for Radio Shack — it was fun to see all of the 80’s icons such as Alf, Hulk Hogan, Mary Lou Retton (was that really her?), Twisted Sister, and so on. Did it convince me that Radio Shack is all new and shiny and completely different from what everyone remembers from the 1980’s? Not really, since I’ve been in Radio Shack recently and it was about 95% just like it was thirty years ago. (C-)
  • 16:15 End of the first quarter, 9-0, Seattle.
  • 16:16 Chevrolet’s charity feel-good ad for World Cancer Day on Tuesday. Lots of really nice photography of a couple riding across the US west at sunrise in a Chevy truck, not a word spoken, the sponsor and cause not revealed until the very end. Touching, without being sappy. The timing and relevance to this household however caused a bit of a reaction from The Long-Suffering Wife. As it should. It’s us, not them. (A-)
  • 16:17 GoDaddy — an ad which might be live (-ish) with Gwen starting her own business making puppets and quitting her job right here on national television in the middle of the game. Not the world’s best ad since they never made any connection that I saw to how their product tied in with their spokesperson. I’m guessing Gwen’s now successful and can quit her “day job” because she started a website with GoDaddy, but I could be wrong. At least GoDaddy stayed away from the really over-the-top sexism and seeing how much skin and innuendo they could get away with. That’s an improvement! (C+)
  • 16:20 Start the second quarter and Seattle almost immediately scores a touchdown. 15-0.
  • 16:24 Bud Light’s big celebration of their new aluminum can — snazzy, bright, loud, disco-based computer graphics, but who cares? Does an aluminum can really make that big of a difference over a bottle or aluminum can? This is how they’re going to differentiate themselves in the market? That’s the best they can do? I guess it’s no worse than Coors’ cans having mountains that turn blue when they’re cold, like you can’t actually touch the can to see if it’s cold or warm. Weird crap going on in the beer-selling business. (C+)
  • 16:24 T-Mobil’s “No Contract, No Worries” uses Tim Tebow to push the idea that they don’t have contracts (and neither does he) — but he’s doing fine, delivering babies (squatting down at the business end with his hands like they’re under center, yelling “Push!”), schmoozing with Bigfoot, addressing the UN and bringing about world peace, and playing football while walking on the moon. It’s big and flashy, and a bit clever, but just a bit. (C+)
  • 16:25 WeatherTech’s “Nobody Builds In the USA” ad — straight to the point, good marketing for their key differentiating points, high quality and made in the USA from US materials. A touch of quirky, satirical characters, but doesn’t go over the top, simply delivers their message. (B+)
  • 16:25 “Transformers: Age Of Extinction” is what, the fourth, fifth, tenth movie in this series? Is Michael Bey still involved or have they handed the reins off to a wannabe Michael Bey clone? Does Mark Wahlberg have an actual reason to take this gig now that Shia laBeouf’s three-movie contract is up and he’s been set free? Can’t Wahlberg do better? In fact, doesn’t he have better in the theaters right now?
  • 16:37 Denver finally had a drive going, actually got a couple of first downs. Then Manning threw an interception for a pick-six. 22-0.
  • 16:39 Volkswagen’s “Wings” ad — a cute idea, well executed, a funny and slightly risque punchline at the end, but… Why didn’t I really care? (B-)
  • 16:40 Wonderful Pistachios with Stephen Colbert — short, snarky, weird. The best thing is the bald eagle in a suit with a garish, bright green tie. (B)
  • 16:41 H&M ad with David Beckham — meh, I’m really not the demographic. Lots of Beckham running around and gradually stripping down to his briefs, with the implication that he even loses those. He’s a wonderful physical specimen, no doubt about it, but I had no sudden urges to drop everything and go buy any of his brand of underwear. (C-)
  • 16:41 The second Wonderful Pistachios ad with Stephen Colbert — still snarky and weird, but this time far, far more garish. Funny, good branding, I especially liked the green Colbert face on a pistachio inside of Colbert’s head. (B+)
  • 16:42 Another Denver turnover, already? Geez, Louise! It’s under review, I think Denver will keep it.
  • 16:43 “Amazing Spiderman 2” seems extremely pointless since I never figured out why they need to make “Amazing Spiderman” to “re-boot” a franchise that was only a couple of years old to begin with. Hey, guys, if you have $100M to throw at a film, how about you give $25M each to four writers with original ideas and four directors who can make a decent film without 90% of it coming out of a computer? Let me know when that happens. In the meantime, count me in the “Who Gives A Crap?” camp.
  • 16:44 Carmax’s “Slow Clap” ad — there were some oddities in here, such as the dad letting his kid on the bike crash, Sean Austin as Rudy, the bear, and so on. But quirky and odd alone do not a commercial make. I’m no more convinced that I should buy a car from Carmax than I was thirty seconds ago. I don’t give a damn if Rudy or the bear likes me, I want to know if I’m getting screwed when I buy that used car. (C+)
  • 16:44 The stupid Geico ad with the animated pig at the DMV — how much did they spend to put this in the middle of this broadcast? Yet they want you to believe that you can save money with them? (D+)
  • 16:44 M&M candy — one of the big, animated M&M’s is in the trunk of an Eastern European mobster’s limo, being threatened (in what we presume to be Russian?) with how he’s going to be served up and eaten. Okay, we’ve seen many others in this series, and most were more clever and more funny. (C+)
  • 16:47 The first half’s 2:00 warning.
  • 16:48 Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” — lots of fantastic photography showing our cultural diversity, the diversity in our lifestyles, our backgrounds, and our cultures. Over it all is being sung “America The Beautiful” with each phrase done in a different language. Very charming, very touching, the kind of thing that Coke can get away with without needing to hammer their brand name into your skull with every frame. (A+)
  • 16:49 Sonos Speakers — not a new ad for the game, it shows an immaculate and minimalist white-on-white house with different music playing in different zones of the house, each zone turning a bright shade as the music fills the area. Got it, we can put different music in different rooms. On the other hand, if I ever have to live in a house that white, that barren, that sterile, that museum-like, make sure that I don’t have any steak knives, ties, belts, or strong medications. (C+)
  • 16:50 A fifteen-second teaser for something, no ID at all except for the Fox logo. Fire, sirens, nada else.
  • 16:53 Denver turns it over on downs. Denver looks like it could get the crap kicked out of them by the Little Sisters of Mercy’s junior varsity team today.
  • 16:54 Toyota Highlander ad — Terry Crews and the Muppets. Wild, silly, over the top, outrageous, everything we would expect from anything involving the Muppets. Who doesn’t love the Muppets? How can they go wrong? (A+)
  • 16:55 Subway ad for their new sandwich with Fritos on it — not quite new, I’ve seen it for a day or two, but I also know that this was a very last minute buy by Subway. They must have gotten some kind of a deal for an open spot and just stuck in their current ad. (C-)
  • 16:58 Halftime
  • 16:58 Promo for Fox Sports Live on their network that wants to challenge ESPN (good luck, you’re going to need it) — quirky, weird, pointless. Having your anchors dress up as plants or furniture or Venus on the half shell doesn’t make me remember who they are or care why I should watch them instead of your competition, especially when I (and most of the rest of the world) already like your competition. (D+)
  • 16:59 Smart Electric — interesting ad, shows their product failing in epic style at four-wheel driving and trying to trundle over boulders as large as the car. They then point out that their car is as out of place in those situations as a huge, 4WD, gas-guzzling SUV would be trying to park in a normal parking spot in the city. Very good identification of your market segment and differentiation, as well as good communication of that one point. (A-)
  • 16:59 Carl’s Jr’s ad (not close to being new) with Terrell Owens, a Philly cheese steak burger, and a number of extremely well endowed women in extremely tiny string bikinis. Yes, Carl’s Jr is sexist as hell in their ads — but they’re honest about it, and I’m not sure any of those women are being exploited or harassed while they’re being typecast. (B- for the ad, F- for making me feel so guilty about enjoying the ad so much)
  • 17:00 GoPro’s ad showing Felix Baumgartner stepping off of the balloon porch a couple of years ago and starting to fall faster than Mach One — GoPro cameras are incredibly cool and useful and the whole GoPro environment of cameras and accessories has made almost routine the countless YouTube and pro videos that wouldn’t have been conceivable five years ago. I would like one, real bad. As for Mr. Baumgartner, he has a very, very large pair, and I’m not talking about his cameras. (A)
  • 17:00 Cadillac’s not very new “That’s Mine” ad — a snarky play on sibling rivalry. Whatever. (C)
  • 17:03 Jeep Cherokee “Built Free” ad — talks a lot about “the restless many”, shows lots of wilderness places (good) and people leaving urban (bad) places to have adventures. Good ad, keeps to what makes their brand special, pulls on the heart strings, makes you want to buy one and go have an adventure that you can’t have in your boxy little 4-door sedan commutermobile. (B)
  • 17:05 Why does Fox feel the need to stick in some lame set piece with Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander? Aside from the fact that I was never a fan of “Seinfeld”, this unfunny bit of schtick is totally out of place here.
  • 17:07 It’s starting to rain! All day whenever anyone asked us who we wanted to win, we’ve answered, “The weather!” We’ve been hoping that about half time we could start a cold rain, by the early third quarter it could turn to freezing rain and ice, but the fourth quarter start snowing heavily, and by the end of the game be an absolute nightmare. Our evil plan is coming to fruition!
  • 17:08 Ad for Fox’s “Cosmos” series coming up — looks fantastic!
  • 17:08 Halftime show starts with the Pepsi “Soundcheck NYC” ad and intro — very, very nice, superb FX showing New York City being used to tune up and get ready for music. The strings of the Brooklyn Bridge are plucked, trains are slid back and forth like the sliding controls on a soundboard, smokestacks are treated like the valves on a trumpet, Columbus Circle is “scratched” like a hip-hop turntable. (A)
  • 17:09 Halftime show with Bruno Mars — he plays the drums? Who knew? I love the brass in his backup band. I like the hair style, although it makes him look a little like a pop singing parasaurolophus. The last note of his first song proved that he wasn’t lip synching — that’s a good thing! Lots and lots and lots and lots of lasers and lights. Bruno’s hip movements and dance moves are the exact same kind of thing that made my parents’ generation have a cow when Elvis burst on the scene. I liked the RHCP, and I’ll give them props for coming out without shirts when it’s in the 50’s and raining. I really liked the montage of dedications from active military preceding “Just The Way You Are.” Overall, one of my favorite halftime shows in years. (A)
  • 17:22 Another fifteen-second teaser with no identification, this time showing the top of a London landmark skyscraper and a huge cloud of smoke, sounds of chaos in the distance…
  • 17:23 A very not-new Living Spaces ad — are these local ads that the Los Angeles affiliate gets to sell and drop in? It really seems out of place here. (C)
  • 17:24 Bud Light is now pushing their Platinum beer, with lots of scenes of clubbing, partying, dancing, crowds, wanting us to “Turn Up Your Evening” — sorry, still the wrong demographic. (C)
  • 17:24 Questlove talking about drums and the joy of making music in a Guitar Center ad — another one that really feels local and out of place here, even though it’s a well done ad, even if it’s a little bit simplistic by the standards of the other ads being shown today. (B)
  • 17:25 Alex & Ani ad — very nicely done, nice sentiment, nice emotional touch. “This is main street.” Okay, I like the way you think. But… What do you sell? Who are you? Was there any clue at all in there to tell me those things if I don’t know and I’m not willing to drop everything at this second to google it? (C)
  • 17:27 NFL Network — building on a classic, one of my favorite ads from last year’s game. Talking about the 2014 draft, one of the color guys on the “broadcast” is “Leon Sandcastle”, supposedly last year’s first pick in the draft by my beloved KC Chiefs. Game footage of “Leon” photoshopped into all kinds of situations from real games this year. The 2014 draft’s number one pick is… “Jerry Ricecake!” Too many in-jokes to even start to list. Very, very clever! (A+)
  • 17:27 Scientology — is this an exercise in how fast you can recognize the ad (it’s not new) and mute the television rather than be exposed to this… this… “ad?” Out of curiosity, would Fox have sold air time to the Catholic Church or the Southern Baptists or the Muslim Brotherhood if any of them had ponied up the millions of dollars needed for an ad in that slot? (F-)
  • 17:28 Third quarter starts, Seattle runs the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. 29-0. Again Fox can’t go to a commercial yet when they normally would after a score, because we’re only twelve seconds into the second half.
  • 17:38 The Audi ad about the canine hybrid Doberman and Chihuahua with the tag line “Compromise Scares Us Too.” Like a Saturday Night Live skit that would be funny for two minutes but drags on for seven or eight, this was an idea that would have been funny in a fifteen second ad, but just is stupid in a sixty second ad. It is nice, if pointless, to see Sarah McLachlan. (C-)
  • 17:39 GoldieBlox & Intuit ad — wonderful, I’m so glad to see that GoldieBlox won the contest Intuit had to reward a small startup company with an ad here. The ad shows little girls bringing all of their pink & “girlish” toys together to build a rocket and launch it, all to a tune that’s a take-off on “Cum On Feel The Noize” by Quiet Riot. This is all the more satisfying after all of the folderol with GoldiBlox’s first ad, which was incredibly wonderful but used a take-off on the Ramones’ “Girls”, which cause the Ramones’ lawyers and heirs to get seriously bent out of shape. Congratulations to Intuit and GoldiBlox! (A+)\
  • 17:39 T-Mobil’s “Still No Contract” again has Tim Tebow, this time saving puppies from burning buildings, stunt car racing motorcycles and 70’s muscle cars, bull riding, being a rock star, and so on. Still done on a big budget, looks nice, but still not as clever as it could be. (C+)
  • 17:40 Another fifteen-second unidentified trailer, this time with a gun being cocked, and at the end there’s about two seconds of something kind of like a clock ticking… Wait, isn’t that from…
  • 17:44 Axe this year got away from selling bizarre, macho, studmuffin, borderline grotesque sex in their ad. Instead we see what looks to be US Hueys attacking in Vietnam, what looks to be a military arms display in some huge Asian city, and what looks like a terrorist or North Korean general getting ready to push a button. But the ad is for “Make Love, Not War” so what we thought we saw is not what truly is. Clever, still a bit on the bizarre side. (B-)
  • 17:45 Chobani’s “Ransacked” shows a small country store being torn apart as everyone flees in terror. The culprit is a large grizzly bear, who is finally satisfied when he finds Chobani yogurt, because it’s made from all natural ingredients. Big budget, pointless commercial, even if I did like yogurt. We get it, it’s “all natural.” So are a half-dozen other brands, or at least that’s what everyone claims. Why should I buy your brand or even remember your name? Because a CGI bear ripped apart a CGI store? (C-)
  • 17:52 Kia’s “The Truth” uses a big name (Lawrence Fishburn) and a big movie spoof (“The Matrix”) and a huge budget to try to convince us that only they have true luxury and all of the (unnamed) other luxury car companies are just selling illusions of comfort. Going a bit beyond that somewhat simplistic (yet clever) idea, there are some very weird things going on after Fishburn starts to sing high opera. Yeah, I said “opera.” (A-)
  • 17:53 Another Sprint ad, similar to the old one that’s been running for a couple of weeks, but this time with a band instead of a family. Stupid idea, stupid ads. It might convince me that your brand is cheap, but does it convince me that it works? Why would I pay cheap if I’m not getting equally good service? (D+)
  • 17:53 Heinz’s “Where There’s Happy” is a big change for Heinz, which doesn’t  advertises that much to begin with, and has never advertised during such a high profile (and expensive) event. It’s a fun ad, cute, brings back warm and fuzzy memories, reinforces the brand’s identity with childhood, fun times, and the good old days. It finishes with a tiny little hint of a “grandma fart” joke, which is always a winner, right? (B+)
  • 17:55 The third Denver turnover of the night. It’s really not their day.
  • 17:56 Honda’s ad for car safety has Bruce Willis playing warm and a bit funny, not blowing anything up or shooting anyone. It points out that everyone around us are the most precious things in our lives, urges us to hug them (he’ll wait), and then remember how many safety features are built into Hondas. It’s a great use of a popular celebrity to get out attention, then deliver a very soft sell based on our concern for our loved ones. (A-)
  • 17:57 Budweiser’s “Hero’s Welcome” ad features Lt. Chuck Nadd coming home to a huge turnout in his small home town, a parade, and so on. No one does heartwarming and inspirational better than Budweiser, and they hit another home run with this one. It’s also great to see Lt. Nadd and his wife in the stands watching the game. (A+)
  • 18:01 The game’s getting chippy, then Seattle makes a great play on a fantastic catch to score yet another touchdown, assisted by really lousy Denver tackling. 36-0.
  • 18:03 Chrysler’s ad with Bob Dylan tries really hard. It’s sort of a follow-up to their “Imported From Detroit” theme of a year or two ago. Lots of nice pictures, lots of hard working Americans, lots of great, patriotic sentiments, all while Dylan walks around and acts icon-like. Let the Germans brew your beer, let the Asians assemble your phone, let someone else do something else — but “We Will build Your Car.” The only problem is that on the couple of occasions in the ad when Dylan stops and looks into the camera to speak, the tone and timbre of the lip-syncing is terrible. They should have just left everything in voiceover. Having all of the live and direct scenes in the exact same voice as all of the voiceover scenes is extremely jarring and unnatural. Good sentiment, good idea, but the execution could have been much better. (C)
  • 18:10 Denver finally scores, it won’t be a shutout. 36-8, and we’re done with the third quarter.
  • 18:12 Why does the NFL have to advertise in it’s own championship game, which is one of the biggest sporting events of the year? The “Together We Make Football” ad is very nice, showing a bunch of vignettes including a teenage girl playing, a kid who just got the letter telling him that he’s going to school on a football scholarship, little kids, pros, and everything in between. As always with the NFL products, the quality is great and the idea is solid. Just not sure why they couldn’t have sold this slot instead, the NFL’s not hurting for brand recognition or consumer approval. (A-)
  • 18:13 A new Jack In The Box ad that is as bizarre as they all are, but must be local. (B)
  • 18:14 A Time-Warner Cable ad featuring actors and characters from “True Blood”, along with about a zillion cameos from all kinds of shows on television. Everything from Jimmy Fallon to HBO to just about every kind of generic show (action, military, western, mystery, etc). I guess the idea is that TWC brings it all together for you. I’ve got a feeling that we’ll be seeing this one a dozen times a day. At least it might get rid of one or two of those lame ads featuring Bill Cower. (B-)
  • 18:19 Coke’s “Going All The Way” shows us a scrawny kid coming off the bench, too clueless to put on his helmet, being told to not screw up anything. When he finally gets the fumbled ball and runs like crazy all the way to the endzone, he keeps running, through the town, into Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, where the friendly groundskeeper gives him a Coke. Not bad, I guess, but Coke’s done so much better a lot of the time. (B-)
  • 18:20 Butterfinger’s ad has a family therapist talking to a couple, Chocolate and Peanut Butter. They’re together (obviously Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but not stated), but looking for something more and different. The therapist introduces them to a third person, Butterfinger. Then it turns into an odd, awkward, and somewhat uncomfortable threesome on the couch. Not sure what they were going for here, but unless it’s creeping folks out and turning them off, I’m pretty sure they didn’t hit the mark. (C-)
  • 18:22 Seattle wastes no time in scoring another touchdown. 43-8)
  • 18:23 Didn’t Peyton Manning just get the league MVP award yesterday? Might they not want to be reconsidering that just a teeny, tiny little bit?
  • 18:24 Microsoft has an extremely emotional and moving ad, featuring Steve Gleason of the New Orleans Saints who’s battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) along with dozens of other people overcoming handicaps, cancer, and obstacles. The ad shows how technology “empowers all of us”, including things like a serviceman overseas seeing his wife live on a video link as their baby is born, and Curiosity driving around on Mars. A two-hanky ad, very well done. (A+)
  • 18:25 In Hyundai’s “Nice”, Johnny Galecki from “The Big Bang Theory” is driving his Hyundai and trying to impress a woman driving next to him in hers. He keeps point out features, such as “Nice acceleration”, to which she responds with something that puts his life in peril, like a mortar shelling or a ramp leading up to a jump surrounded by flaming hoops. Aside from the fact that it let them blow off a huge FX budget, what’s the point and couldn’t it have been made much more directly and simply? He comes off as kind of a stalker, she comes off as kind of a bitch. (C)
  • 18:28 Jaguar’s “It’s Good To Be Bad” features three prominent British actors (Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston, and Mark Strong) who always play supervillians. They’re driving Jaguar F-Type coupes all over, when they’re not in helicopters, blimps, or jets. It’s very “James Bond-ish”. The ad is splashy, expensive, over the top, and has a bit of “Meh!” in it, but the car is fantastic. If I won the lottery tomorrow I would have an F-Type ASAP. They should have spent a lot more time showing the car (everything’s shot at night, to make it more sinister I guess) and less time showing their star actors. (B+)
  • 18:29 Oikos yogurt from Dannon has an ad that re-unites the leading actors of “Full House”, John Stamos, Bob Saget, and Dave Coulie. Other than that, it’s got a lot of innuendo and about as much humor and class as “Full House” did. As you might guess, I thought that “Full House” sucked, so I was not impressed by the ad. John Stamos is eating the yogurt, gets some on his lip, this beautiful woman kisses it off of his lip, he “accidentally” drops some into his lap, she gets a gleam in her eye, at which point Saget & Coulie burst in to help him clean the pants before the stain sets. If I never see this ad again it will be just fine with me. (F+)
  • 18:32 Folks who were expecting a 30-28 game or a 24-21 game were 100% correct in expecting that — right up until the second the ball was first kicked off. Since then, not so much. Denver has really and truly been their own worst enemy tonight and this one’s been a rout since about the middle of the second quarter.
  • 18:35 Another T-Mobil ad, this time with no Tim Tebow, just a pink screen, white text, goofy music and whistling. I wonder if it actually gets anyone to abandon their existing contracts at T-Mobil’s expense and then sign an extended contract with T-Mobil. At least they didn’t spend a ton of money on the production of this ad. I could have done it on my PC in a day or two. (C-)
  • 18:35 The SodaStream ad starring Scarlett Johansson has had a LOT of controversy over the last week or two. Ms. Johansson and OxFam have gone their separate ways in a huge kerfuffle having something to do with SodaStream being an Israeli company, maybe? I haven’t paid a lot of attention, but it seemed pointless and odd. Then Fox refused to let SodaStream air the ad as it was originally made, since it ended with a tagline something like, “Sorry, Coke and Pepsi!” Since Coke and Pepsi are huge, huge sponsors and SodaStream really isn’t, there was no way that was going on the air. Instead it ends with, “I love helping people.” Expect to see the original on every conceivable show within minutes after the end of the game. As for the ad, who cares? I’m just a bit addicted to Diet Coke, so I don’t care how cheaply this thing makes soda “just like the real thing.” (B-)
  • 18:36 The fourth teaser with the fire, smoke, London, gun cocking, finally confirms that it’s for the return of “24” later in the year. Okay, that was an effective teaser campaign. (B+)
  • 18:43 Someone’s hurt but the color commentators are just blathering on and on and on. I’m guessing we’ve run out of paid commercials until the 2:00 warning.
  • 18:45 We’ll see how well my beloved Chiefs do next year against Seattle, New Orleans, San Francisco, or whoever.
  • 18:47 Yet another Denver turnover, not that it matters at all any more. Finally, the 2:00 warning.
  • 18:51 The most anticipated, huge Budweiser ad of the day, “Puppy Love”, shows the cutest puppy on the planet who keeps running away from home to come and visit his pal, one of the Clydesdale horses. Time after time he has to be brought home and taken away from the horses. Finally the horse jumps the fence and chases after the car, getting a few of his friends to block the road. Finally the humans figure it out and let them hang out together and live happily ever after. Okay, said like that it sounds sappy and syrupy, but it’s really done well. Again, no one does these things like Budweiser. (A+)
  • 18:51 GoDaddy’s second ad of the day has a whole crowd of over-muscled body builders (including a very CGIed Danica Patrick) running through the streets and piling up against the window of a newly opened tanning salon, presumably because the new business owner used GoDaddy to… Yeah, we saw it before. Cute, not great, but at least it’s not horribly sexist. (B)
  • 18:52 Doritos’ final ad of the day, also fan made, shows two kids playing in the yard, when one goes running for the Doritos. The younger kid calls the dog, a huge mastiff of some sort, gets his rope, and rides across the yard as if he was Gene Autry or the Lone Ranger to lasso the chips away from his older brother. Cute. Wonderful for an amateur effort. I still don’t eat Doritos. (B+)
  • 18:56 It’s finally over, 43-8 final. They’re doing the onfield interviews with a fish-eye lens that makes everything look bizarre.
  • 18:59 One last ad, from Esurance, something about giving away a boatload of money to someone who tweets or texts or does something. Don’t care. Maybe we would have cared if it was a 21-20 game. (C)

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February 1, 2014 · 22:35

Thank You, DJ Bueller

It has been said, “Music has charms to sooth a savage beast.” I’m not feeling particularly savage or beastly these days, but I’m very glad that I remembered the music tonight.

On Sirius XM satellite radio, my favorite channel is #33, “First Wave“. Lots of music from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Alternative. Punk. New Wave. My favorite show featuring all of that is the “Saturday Night Safety Dance,” which is just an excuse to put on a pre-recorded set of eight hours of dance mixes, mashups, and party music from the era. Part of the joke is that it’s supposedly hosted and put together by “DJ Bueller”, who apparently has taken the day off since we never hear him.

I absolutely adore it.

Many Saturday nights I get occupied with one thing or another and miss it. Most Saturday nights I remember to listen for a half hour or so. Some nights I need about a four hour fix with the option to turn selected favorite tunes WAY, WAY UP LOUD!!

For whatever reason, tonight was one of the latter.

We even got two new extended dance mixes, at least ones that were new to me. And the Pet Shop Boys’ “Where The Streets Have No Name / Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” mashup, one of my all-time favorites.

(Now playing, a really nice extended version of “Shout” by Tears for Fears. Tasty!)

In the end, even the really good music can’t make sense the chaos or quiet the angry voices of reality. But they can make it a bit easier to either tolerate or embrace the pandemonium and noise.

 

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