Super Bowl bits

This is later than everyone else's, and no one asked, but here are my Super Bowl notes:

Skipped all the football content; don't care. Don't see why anybody cares, but that's a religious war, so let's just assume we've had that discussion and you won.

The Terminator is an implausible character already; using it as a pitchman for a football game just hits wrong notes up and down the scale.

Ads:

• Honda Element: highly irritating after the first one, and there were three right off the bat.
• Budweiser, Zebra-as-ref: 'sallright.
• Pepsi: The Osbournes are the Osmonds! Yeah, pretty funny. I still haven't watched the show itself; oh well.
• Matrix: Cool Neo-flying footage, but the fighting was way too fake for me. Maybe the small screen had something to do with it.
• Anger Management, a Sandler movie with wacky sidekick Jack Nicholson: blech. Yuck. Gag.
• Using Willie Nelson to sell tax advice: pretty clever.
• "Drug Money Supports Terrible Things" made a good argument for decriminalizing drugs; with lower stakes, people wouldn't get caught in crossfires. Probably not the conclusion they want you to draw, though.
• Daredevil: Affleck looks fine, but Garner is not Elektra Natchios.
• Hanes tagless shirts with Michael Jordan and Jackie Chan: weird enough that I was thinking it would be a Mentos ad.
• Gilligan for mlife: wow, mlife decided to advertise a benefit of the product instead of being all futuristic and cryptic. How... conventional.
• Cadillac: Man, those are ugly cars.
• Reebok/Terry Tate: Nice shoutout to Office Space. Remember the cover memo on your TPS reports, Peter! Or else!

Musical acts:

• Celine Dion: skipped. Bless you, TiVo.
• Dixie Chicks: Lip-synced, but who can produce reliable live sound in a stadium? Pleasant recording of the Banner, though; some unusual and not-unpleasant chord choices in there.
• Shania Twain: didn't even bother to keep lip-syncing her song; ran around instead.
• No Doubt: skipped.
• Stingy*! Of course, after my rationalization for the Dixie Chicks, Sting actually unmistakably sang live; that was cool.

Slate quotes ABC people claiming Shania was singing, it was her band that was faking. Uh huh. "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

* (an old Steve Martin/SNL joke I can't find a good online reference to.)     4 comment(s)  

So, um, what was up with that outfit Shania Twain had on? Don't get me wrong, I like pointless push-up-bra-aided clevage and thigh-high black leather boots just as much as the next guy -- hell, maybe even more -- but isn't she supposed to be a country-and-western singer? Has there been some sort of "bondage revival" in the country field, or something? Maybe I need to tune in TNN more often...
      ...posted by genehack on January 30, 2003 1:15 AM

TNN isn't the country music channel anymore. If you do tune in, you're probably going to find Star Trek: Next Gen reruns.

I saw the halftime show with the mute on. Much better that way.

Push-up bra for Shania vs bare midriff on Gwen Stefani....Hmmm....tough call....

Oh, and will someone please get Sting a t-shirt in his size?
      ...posted by Neil on January 30, 2003 5:31 PM

Can someone tell me why Sting needed backup from Gwen Stefani? Sorry, but I'd rather just hear him, not her. I did like the fast tempo though -- the last few times I've seen Sting either live or "live on tape" he usually does that as a ballad.

Oh, and my favorite for the ad list -- the Sierra Mist commercial where the monkey catapualted into the polar bear pool (although it does lead to those inevitable discussions around why the poor animals have to be in zoos instead of roaming free...)
      ...posted by AmyK on January 30, 2003 10:38 PM

I didn't mind the dueting with Stefani; it's the sort of weird matchup I expect from a 'spectacle' event.

I kept waiting for Shania to join them, though; isn't it a bit of a dis to have only two of your three acts in your big closing number?

Maybe Shania had somewhere else to be, I dunno.
      ...posted by SteveB on January 30, 2003 10:44 PM

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