Halftime From Hell

Black Eyed Peas at Super Bowl XLV - Photo courtesy of NFL.com

Here’s my problem with the halftime show of Super Bowl XLV – it was a symbol of everything that was wrong with the event without showing a hint of any of the good. If you’re okay with a billionaire charging thousands for bad seats inside the stadium and hundreds for seats out in cold to watch the game on TV, then this was the perfect show for you. On the other hand, if you prize substance and style over fads and plastic spectacle, you were left wanting.

I have nothing specifically bad to say about Black Eyed Peas – their music is strictly meh, but then again, what chart-topping pop/pap isn’t these days? If I hadn’t been spinning their singles back in the day at WUNH and remember a time when they actually had something to say, perhaps I wouldn’t mind them. However, I’m not prepared to undergo the full lobotomy that would allow me that perspective, so whenever they’re mentioned in conversation my standard line is something like “Yeah, I remember when they didn’t suck”. Perhaps it’s a little harsh, but it’s also true. What also happens to be true is that, because I don’t play to sold-out venues every other night and enjoy non-stop airplay, I won’t completely disparage their collective talents and musicianship. It’s poor form and I want no part of it. Continue reading

Belated Notes On Super Bowl XLV

Courtesy of NFL.com

Up to my uncombed and untrimmed hair in work the past few days, I crawled out from the bottom of my deadline bonfire this afternoon to realize that nothing had emerged from this blog regarding the single largest sporting event of the year. Lest I sacrifice all of my formerly hearty sports blogging cred, something, dear reader, must be done to rectify this situation. So here we go, note-style…

Was anyone else hoping – nay, praying – to hear something like this after the game… “Aaron Rodgers, you’ve just won Super Bowl XLV – what are you going to do now?” … “I’m going to Hattiesburg, Mississipi and take a dump on Brett Favre’s tractor… then I’m going to Disneyland!” Continue reading

The War On Perspective

Borrowed from ToonPool.com, artist unknown. Not the property of Designing Dad.

There’s this terrific urge to share just about every moment of our lives these days, whether your preference is Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, a blog, or something I’m not even aware of yet. It’s safe to say that, unlike any time before our own, we have the ability and the willingness to share whatever is happening in our lives at that moment in real time, without filters, and without perspective.

See, there’s the problem. Sharing live from across the world via satellite the protests in Egypt or perhaps something momentous that’s happening in your own backyard is one thing. However, letting the world at large know that this pastrami on rye is the best sandwich you’ve ever tasted and that you’d make sweet, sweet love to it if the law allowed such things… well, we don’t really need to know that.

(Unless you’re a musical genius like Warren Zevon advising us to enjoy every sandwich. In which case, rock on. Oh, and go listen to this a couple dozen times and realize this man was dying of cancer. Cancer. Stop bitching about your internet connection and do something to further the human race, okay?) Continue reading