Another Delco Guy In South Jersey

The Worst Super Bowl Ever

There was really very little about the Super Bowl this year that intrigued me.  I likened it to a cage match between Idi Amin and Hitler.  Two thoroughly unlikeable teams in a matchup where, by rule, someone MUST win is not what I am generally looking for in a championship. Put the game in a craphole town like Indianapolis and you've got the worst possible confluence of events. They should have just canceled the thing.

Sadly, the game was played despite my misgivings.

After the initial excitement of Tom Brady brain farting his way into a safety, I was pretty much bored out of my mind.  I caught myself checking out ESPN's counter programming of 'The World's Strongest Man,' where giant freaks of nature pulled trucks with their teeth. Despite New York trying to give New England every chance to win, Tom Brady threw behind open receivers all night and Rob 'Jesus' Gronkowski could not haul in the desperation heave as time expired. 

Thus, Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have been guaranteed enshrinement in the ever-more-mediocre Football Hall of Fame.

I was hopeful that the commercials would at least be a respite from the bad matchup.  While there were a few bight spots, I was left thinking that this was the weakest set of Super Bowl Commercials in the modern era of commercialdom.  While I think that the animal commercial era has had it heyday and is in decline, I did I enjoy the Doritos 'You Didn't See Nuthin' spot. I thought the Seinfeld/Leno spot for Acura was very witty and well-done, but was surprised to see it twice,

Some of the big ads fell flat for me. I felt like the Budweiser Prohibition ads were just 30 second versions of 'Boardwalk Empire' with no guns or nudity.  The Honda commercial with Matthew Broderick re-living his Ferris Bueller role was too long and really did nothing for me as a fan of the movie.

Halftime show? Even if you believe Madonna wasn't lip-synching that performance, what is this? 1987? I loved the Material Girl as much as any red-blooded american teen in the 1980s, but who's next?  Rick Astley? The lame additions of current 'stars' did nothing to add energy ot the show, but DID add some controversy. 

I did enjoy the company as an impromptu scheduling change left me available to hang out with my brother and his buddies.  The debate over Trey vs. Keith Richards in a guitar death match and the needling of Alice lent a bit of fun to the atmosphere and wrapped up a very good weekend.

13 days 'til pitchers and catchers!

Friday Fantastic Four - Iconic TV

This week's passing of Robert Hegyes, best known for his role as Epstein on the 1970s TV show 'Welcome Back Kotter,' got me to thinking about iconic TV this morning.  So much of what is on TV today is pretty formulaic, with the crime and court procedurals, the family comedies and all the reality TV crap.

Shows like Kotter, which you can still catch on local channels in syndication or can pick up at Amazon, still play well 25 years later.  Yeah the hair and clothes scream 1977, but the jokes are still funny, the stories are still interesting and you can still relate to the characters even in the social media age. It's probably not a top 4 iconic show, mostly because there was only so much you could do with a story line largely centered on a high school class, but it's still a show that broke some ground.

What are the four most iconic TV shows of your lifetime?

1. The Simpsons - still fresh, funny and making a statement after all these years. I know not everyone is a Simpsons fan with the low brow and slapstick stuff that the show sometimes relies on.  But each episode is saying something in a way that is accessible across generations. proved a prime-time animated show could be a winner and inspired dozens of copy cats.
2. The Rockford Files - Everyone probably already knows I am a big Rockford fan, but TRF really was a different kind of show for its day.  It made it ok to be a TV detective who wasn't a tough guy, made the careers of many of new faces (Tom Selleck and Sopranos creator David Chase among the most notable), and has the best opening sequence of any TV show ever.
3. M*A*S*H - I think everyone watched the last episode, but if that's all you remember, then you missed how much this show changed TV.  It was anti-war, created the 'dramedy' genre, showed the blood and dirt of war right on your living room TV.  As the Vietnam era ended, M*A*S*H lost a bit of its edge, taking on other social issues before going out with the most watched TV episode ever.
4. Seinfeld - The show about nothing that dominated TV in the 90s, Seinfeld was never really one of my favorites.  I do recognize how thoroughly it became part of the culture and  remains so today.  Like Friends, the 4 person cast was huge together, but never really had as much reach as individual actors.

Winding Down

It's a few minutes before the season finale of Boardwalk Empire, signalling the end of my weekend.

Friday night was a fun time, drinks, dinner and dancing with old friends out in Philly.  I will be doing a review of one of the new spots we hit.  Saturday was a day of college basketball and football, and a night with some new friends.

I've been looking for curtains for my room for a few weeks.  Emma vetoed the last set after I hung them with a disgusted shake of her head and the remark, 'Daddy sometimes you have no clue.'

So after the Eagles' big win over Miami today, I returned the rejected curtains, and picked out another set that at least matches my comforter.  After a few hours of grocery and Christmas shopping, I waved the white flag, but not before crossing two more names off the list.

After making myself some comfort food, I am now relaxing on the couch by the lights of the Christmas tree awaiting the last Boardwalk Empire for 9 months.  Sigh.

What An End to the MLB Season!

First, let me express my condolences to my friends who are Red Sox fans, especially Susan and Paul.  Hopefully your significant others have removed all sharp objects from your vicinity.  I said a few weeks ago that the Red Sox were lucky to have such a weak schedule down the stretch because they were playing terribly.  The schedule wasn't weak enough.

While my brother wrote the best article I have seen on last night's amazing finish to a great season, the chart above came from a great article at the NY Times blog 538, usually on political statistics. Using a slightly tortured bit of math, he pegged the odds of all of last night's games ending as they did at 1 in 278 million.

It was truly a phenonmenal night of baseball.

In all the hysteria, it's easy to over look what the Phils did this week.  With everyone from me to Ricky Bo saying, "They better get going, you can't just flip a switch and turn it back on," the Phillies did just that, standing on the gas and sweeping the Braves en route to a team-record 102 wins on the season.

It's a bit sad that Major League baseball, always looking for ways to mess up a good thing, seems to have decided to add another wild card spot.  Why's that sad?  Because none of the games last night would have meant a thing with that extra spot. Hopefully they re-consider.

It's a busy weekend for me with some work, Panek Oktoberfest, soccer, travel baseball, and Chowderfest, but I will do my best to catch the Phils' games at 5 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday.  There's not much better than October Baseball!

Boardwalk Empire Is Back

In a bit less than an hour, HBO's Boardwalk Empire has its season two debut.  It's the first show I have watched since The West Wing went dark a few years back.

Like The West Wing, Boardwalk Empire has stellar writing, seriously good acting and some really interesting plot lines.  The characters are fascinating and the sets are wonderfully done.  I have been waiting for months for tonight's premiere.

I don't do much TV.  It's generally all pretty bad.  I watch a lot of sports, a read a lot and the kids take a lot of time.  I like a few shows like NCIS that are in syndication, and HGTV draws my attention on some Sunday morning.  I had a Food Network thing going for a while, but it faded this past spring as baseball season started.

I'm prepping for tonight's 9pm premiere by watching a few old episodes of The West Wing I snagged off the internet.  I figure it's a good pre-game. 

And it's helping me forget about the Eagles.

Friday Fantastic Four - Spring Break - Without Charlie Sheen!

Despite dozens several requests for a Charlie Sheen-related Fan 4 this week, I'm going to have to say no.  I mean what could the topics be?  Top four hookers Charlie has been with?  Top four drugs he's done?  Top four movies he's been in?  He hasn't been in four good movies.

Since it's Spring Break at the old workplace, and Da Boss is on Da Plane, I'm going Spring Traditional in topic selection this week.

What four places would you most like to go to spring break next week?

1. La Jolla, CA - Not so much for the golf, but for the warm breezes and the sunsets
2. Banff Springs, Canada - Soaking in a hot tub watching the Northern Lights
3. Rio - I've wanted to go to Carnivale since Demi Moore starred in the film classic "Blame it on Rio"
4. New Orleans - I've been there a bunch, but never for Mardi Gras.  I'll make it one year!

Everyone enjoy the warm weather in the northeast this weekend or where ever you are headed for Spring Break!

The Super Bowl Commercials - My Take

I enjoyed watching the Super Bowl last night.  It was a great game interrupted by an visually brilliant and tonally terrifying halftime show, spiced up by the best TV commercials Madison Avenue has to offer.

We can talk about the gritty determination of the Packers' defense, how turnovers ALWAYS have a huge impact in the Super Bowl, what drug the producer who though Fergie singing Guns and Roses was on, or we can talk about the commercials.  Everyone else is, so why not Another Delco Guy?

USA Today says the top 2 commericals tied for popularity were the Bud Light Dog Party spot and the Doritos 'Pug' clip.  I honestly didn't think the Doritos spot was even the best from its brand brands, let alone the best of the night.  (The best Doritos spot to me was the odd, stomach-turning one with the finger licker in it.  Are you really going to forget that one any time soon?)

My top two were both funny spots this year.  There were some good serious spots, including the epic Chrysler commercial 'Imported From Detroit,' that definitely deserve a look, but the Super Bowl is an international party, so I tend to lead to the funny spots.

My Numero Uno for the night was Best Buy's "What's a Bieber" starring the ancient former rocker turned former reality TV star Ozzy Osbourne and upstart, oddly androgynous pop sensation Justin Bieber.  I don't know what made me laugh so hard about this spot, but it topped out for me.

 

My second fave from Super Bowl XLVXBXLVVII was the Pepsi Max commercial about about first date thoughts.  Corny, yes!  But it was the commercial that had men laughing and women shaking their heads across the world last night.  Ya gotta love that!

Overall, I thought the quality of the offerings was down a notch or two from yeas past.  Clearly there was no Coke 'Mean Joe Green'  or Apple '1984' instant classic spot, but two trend really struck me.  First, the movie promos were uniformly blah.  I could care less about seeing any of those movies after those promos.  Second, the internet website commercial may have run its course.  I usually love the E-trade baby, but last night's spot was awful.  There were at least three ads from websites i have never heard of and have forgotten in 12 hours.  And I am reasonably certain 90% of the world has no idea who Danica Patrick is, let alone why she is shilling for GoDaddy.

Summing it up, for once the game was the biggest reason to watch.  The commercials were down, but they had a strong lead over what might have been the worst halftime show in history.  One week until pitchers and catchers folks!

On Tiger and His Statement

The restaurant where I ate lunch had ESPN News looping when I went in today.  The Tiger Woods statement was shown in its entirety at the top of the hour.  It wasn't a pretty 13 minutes. 

Is it just me or has someone scooped Tiger's brain out with a melon baller and inserted an android processor which just mouths words in a nearly human manner? i know the guy is known for his focus and lack of emotion on the golf course, but this was just unreal.

The presentation varied between the world's #1 golfer and uber philanderer staring at the papers in front of him and reading, or apparently freezing up in his speech and looking straight at the camera.  Not pretty either way.

The best part was at the end when the robot known as Tiger walked over to his mom and his programmers had them embrace ion a long hug while the rest of the people in the front row stared at them, praying 'please god don't let him try to hug me.' 

My brother and I had a spirited IM discussion about the Tigercast.  He was amazed at the 'entitlement' the public felt toward Tiger and how much is being expected of him.  Matt notes a belief that Tiger owes us nothing.  I beg to disagree.

One of the reasons this guy has such problems is that he has no emotion beyond himself, not for golf, not for his wife, not for me, a fan of the game, or apparently for anything else. And he showed it again today.

While it's very true that infidelity is common in the world and probably more common among sports stars, that isn't really the issue.  What I saw today was a guy trying to come before the public for its blessing and doing it with such hollowness that he was rendered unbelievable and even more pathetic.  

He didn't have to do this.  Tiger chose to be part of the public theater.  If he was going to go out there and do this, he had a responsibility to do it well.  If he couldn't do it well (which was apparently the case) someone should have told him to just stay silent and move on to the next phase of his therapy and ignore us.  Because otherwise he ends up looking like a guy who felt like he had to go out and say that he was putting his wife and family first, but not because he necessarily felt that way.

I am not at all saying I won't be a fan of Tiger the golfer when he comes back, but I'll be a fan for the same reason I always have been- because he can do amazing things on a golf course, not becasue he is the accessible everyman on the golf course, a la Arnie Palmer.  In the mean time, I want him to go away and get better and stop wandering though my life, blathering on about things it's clear he has no solid grip on yet.

Friday Fantastic Four

Loyal readers will know that my student worker Isaac has been helping out with the Fantastic Four this summer because I have been slacking.

Today, it's his turn to slack, so it's my turn again.  This week's list is inspired by the news that Josh Duhamel will headline NBC's remake of the classic 1970s TV series The Rockford Files.  I'm sure if you already know TRF is my favorite TV show ever, so #1 on the list comes as no surprise.

What are your four favorite TV Show Theme Songs?

1. The Rockford Files - They're updating the show to the present day, so the theme might not survive, but I sure hope it does
2. Cheers - who doesn't love the feeling of walking into you favorite bar or restaurant and having everyone say hello?
3. Hill Street Blues - the sad piano repetitions and jazzy guitar matched the show perfectly
4. The Dukes of Hazzard - Waylon Jennings was the narrator for the show and sang the theme for the show we all watched in

Everyone have a great weekend!

My Choice

While the kids really loved the animal commercials, and my brother thought the cash4gold.com commercial rocked, I am going with the simple art of stupid violence for my favorite commercial from the Super Bowl.

I'll give honorable mentions to the Audi Transporter ad and the Monster.com moose spot.  Fanhouse has the full roundup.

Surprisingly, the game was better than the commercials for the second year in a row.

We Saw This Coming

Microsoft has apparently gotten so unhip that they hired Jerry Seinfeld of all people to do commercials that make them seem hip.  You know.  The guy who used to be on TV? 

Apparently Paul Reiser was booked.

Now, in the most unshocking development in the history of Microsoft bonehead deals, the software giant is pulling the ad campaign after only 2 ads were produced. No wonder Vista costs so much.

The I'm a PC ads are much better than the Seinfeld stuff, but not nearly as slick as the Mac-PC ads.  Oh and they were made on a Mac.

On Tim Russert

RIP Tim Russert
Originally uploaded by timothypedersen

I met Tim Russert last May in Buffalo, New York as he spoke as the home-town guest to a conference he attended. It was a few weeks before father's day and he spent most of his 40 minute speech talking about his dad, Big Russ. He also spun some fun yarns from the set of Meet the Press and took us inside what his day is like.

Afterwards, he stood around the makeshift conference bar with a few of us political junkies and had a beer, talking about the possibilities of the 2008 race that was still a year away at the time. He was down-to-earth, extraordinarily well-informed and generous with his insights and time.

I chose the image today from the 244 on flickr because it was not your standard headshot and seemed to capture the guy I met over a beer in his hometown.  Thanks to Timothy Pedersen.

For quite some time I really didn't think that much of Tim Russert's work on NBC. For some reason, his style and I did not connect and I generally avoided Meet the Press, which I considered a poor competitor to This Week.

Then came the White Board Moment.

On a night when seemingly no one on television was able to explain just what was happening, Tim Russert threw aside the technology and the maps and the millions of dollars of stuff at his disposal and communicated directly with the American public. He clearly showed us what was happening and how important Florida had become.

With a $2 white board.

In that moment I felt understood this guy and how well he connected with the US populace. Last year, I was gratified to find that my analysis was correct, but more gratified to get a chance to hear him talk about his dad and his son, to thank his wife for all of her time spent helping him and to thank those of our group for helping students like his son Luke go to college.

Last week he got to see Luke graduate from Boston College. Russert had done an awful lot in his career, but I am glad that "Little Russ" got the chance to see that moment before the screen went dark yesterday.

Great Commercial?

I tend to tune out commercials or jump up to grab a beverage or pee during them.  So I had heard this one several times before I actually saw it.  Then I had no idea what they were selling because I was too confused by the animals.  So I started waiting for the commercial to see what the heck they were trying to get me to buy.

Turns out that Jeep is trying to get me to buy the new Grand Cherokee by running this spot on ESPN and Discovery all night long.

The music is "Rock Me Gently" a #1 Billboard hit by Andy Kim from 1974.  I'd never heard that one, but I do remember his other #1, "Sugar, Sugar," which he sang with Ron Dante as part of "The Archies."

I'm torn on whether  this is a great commercial.  I mean I had NO CLUE what the product was for the first 3-4 times I was exposed to it.  However, the unusual music and the animated animals drew me back enough times for me to figure out what they were selling.  Heck, I even went and found the video and did a post on it. 

Now what's the wolf eating and regurgitating the bird about?

Friday Fantastic Four

I try not to do whiny, complaining posts, but i watched the World Series last night and it totally ticked me off.

 

In that vein -

What four things most piss you off about TV?

1. 4 guys calling a simple game
2. Oprah
3. Current players acting as commentators
4. That I have 174 channels and nothing is ever on

On the positive side, it was an amazingly well-played game and I can't wait to see if the Phils can make a real play to bring Schill back here for his last season.  Mike Lowell would look nice in red and white at 3B as well.

And I am never buying another Taco Bell product again.

have a great weekend!!!!

Verizon FIOS

This made me LAUGH!!!!  From Verizon.com:

                        

System is currently unavailable

       

Packages & Prices             All About FiOS             About Installation             System Requirements              FAQs                       Contact Us

We're sorry.Online Ordering is Currently Unavailable                                                                                                       We are unable to check FiOS availability and process orders due to a system issue. Please try again later. If this problem continues, please call 888-933-3331 to speak with a Verizon Online representative. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Not a good first impression for a company trying to get me to switch from Comcast's Triple Play.  The Verizon commercials with the little kid and the Verizon tech are so good, i decided to stop by the website to see what the pricing is like.

Then they have a system error.  Puts them in the same category with the Comcast guys.

True QAM.  NOT!

Friday Fantastic Four

Yet another installment of the Fantastic Four lsit.

This week's topic:

What are your Four Favorite Beach Memories?

1. Summer of 2001 - Surf City - Dipping John in the ocean for the first time.  He hated it.
2. Spring 1988 - Wildwood and a Pathmark co-worker
3. Winter of 1999 - Driving on the beach in Daytona
4. Fall 2006 - Walking on the dark beach - Surf City

Honorable mentions:

• Escaping the craziness of The Great American Baseball Trek IV - Daytona 1994
• Seeing where Jim Rockford's trailer was parked in Paradise Cove - Malibu 2005
• Sand Crabs in Duck, NC - 1998

How about your faves? Childhood?  Hooking up?  Pristine silence?  Let us know!

Mah-Na-Ma-Nah

Been wondering where the latest Saturn Aura jingle came from?

Here ya go:

http://www.youtube.com/v/dkK7SMopjXk

Oh.  And The Phillies BLOW!