I will be attending the midnight opening for "Dark Tower 2" at Midtown Comics. Before that, on that Tuesday, March 4th, I will be appearing as part of the Comic Book Club, 8 PM, at The Peoples Improv Theater, 154 West 29th Street, 2nd Floor, between 6th and 7th Avenues.
Then, a couple weeks later, I will be attending the Wizard Convention in Los Angeles. I'm very much looking forward to seeing old friends there.
PAD
It's now down to voting on the two wild card cities. The Hasbro press release to that effect is reprinted below.
USA! USA!
PAD
EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. - February 29, 2008 - The people have spoken! With more than 4.5 million votes cast, San Francisco is one of 20 wild card cities that will compete for the opportunity to become a property space on the first-ever global MONOPOLY game board.
For the past six weeks, MONOPOLY fans voted to select which of the world's greatest cities will become properties on the new Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition game board. The online ballot included cities such as New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney. Those votes determined 20 of the 22 property spaces on the game board. While the fate of the top 20 property spaces has been sealed, two property spaces are still up for grabs.
Two property spaces on the game board -- the spaces traditionally home to Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue -- were reserved for "wild card candidates" (write-in votes), so every city on the planet was eligible to be nominated to be on the game board.
Starting today, the 20 cities that received the most nominations for the wild card properties will compete in a face-off vote. In addition to San Francisco, the top nominated cities include Gdynia, Cancun, Bern, Johannesburg and Quebec City. To view the full list of cities, visit http://www.monopoly.com
In order for San Francisco to be victorious and land a spot on the new game board, fans are encouraged to vote for the city daily at http://www.monopoly.com during “wild card week,” which runs until March 9.
The final list of cities to be included on the MONOPOLY Here & Now The World Edition game board will be unveiled in August 2008 and the game will go on sale in September 2008 in 45 countries.
On "The Colbert Report" tonight, the number five threat on the "Threat Down" was the international edition of Monopoly.
With one day to go on the voting, let us see if America can get a Colbert bump.
PAD
I went to the WGA meeting last night on the contract. There were maybe a dozen or so people in the audience. Most people had obviously already mailed in their ballots, but I came in because I was interested to see who would show up and if anyone had anything interesting to say.
A microphone was set up so that people could get up and address the board and have their say about the contract.
Nobody did.
The meeting ran about ninety seconds, and most of that consisted of a Ferris Bueller-like "Anyone? Anyone," and when no one had anything to say, we voted. I suspect it will carry overwhelmingly.
I wonder if the WGA West meeting had more fireworks.
PAD
UPDATE: The WGA has just confirmed that the new contract was overwhelmingly approved by over 93 percent of the membership.
Okay, we're done with the fashions. Moving on to the main event. This will be pretty much the ol' Cowboy speaking, unless otherwise indicated. We continue below the cut line.
Personally, I think that Jon Stewart will mention the settled strike within the first thirty seconds of his time.
And away we go.
8:31: nice opening montage. I wish I had recorded it so I could freeze frame. Amazing how many of them were SF and fantasy. Then again about ninety percent of the top fifty box office films of all time were SF or fantasy.
8:33: sixteen seconds. Score.
8:34: Stewart's definitely on. "Does this town need a hug?" "Thank God for teen pregnancy." Beautiful.
8:36: Okay, now I *have* to see "Atonement." The raw passion of Yom Kippur? I am so there.
8:39: Great, my stripper name is Mickey Albert.
8:40: "Normally when you have a black man or a woman president, a meteor is about to strike the statue of Liberty." Personally, I'm going to get a "Vote for Gaydolf Titler" t-shirt made up.
8:42: Costume design: Ariel and Kath are pulling for Sweeney Todd. Kath suspects Elizabeth will win.
8:43: Yup. Opulence usually wins costume design.
8:45: Well, you don't normally tune into the Oscars for the commercials, but that Diet Coke commercial was actually pretty funny.
RE: Comments. Yes, it was sixteen seconds. I was timing it.
8:48: "But one thing has always been consistent: Its long." Something tells me that was an ad lib by Clooney. Very honest.
8:49: Okay, I hate to admit it, but I'm a sucker for montages, and this is a good one. But, geez, how'd they miss Sally Field.
8:51: That's right, Carrell and Hathaway are costarring in "Get Smart." Can't wait.
8:52: Animated feature. We're rooting for Ratatouille, although Persepolis is supposed to be beautiful.
8:54: Ariel's disappointed. No animated rats came up to accept. It'd be cool if Brad Bird spoke with Edna's voice.
8:56: Make-up. Ariel is rooting for "Pirates."
8:57: Ariel's reaction: "That blows."
8:58: That woman's left eyelash appears to be coming off. Weird.
9:00: Amy Adams is going to be busy tonight. they should really be doing more with the presentation of this song than her just standing there. The lyrics remain gloriously demented.
The best song from "Enchanted" was "How Do You know?" and that's the one we're definitely rooting for. My only concern is that, since three songs from the film are nominated, they could wind up splitting the vote and another slides in.
COMMENTS: No, Amy Adams was not lip synching. She even sounded a touch nervous, and yes, her voice cracked here and there. A lip synched performance would have sounded much cleaner.
9:07: The Rock presenting visual FX. Since he is a walking visual effect, it's a good choice. Ariel is again rooting for Pirates.
9:08: Well, Ariel now says she thought Golden Compass was better. Me, i fell asleep during it so I'll take her word for it.
9:10: Art direction. We're rooting for Sweeney Todd.
9:11: Yea. Interesting that they played "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," which wasn't actually sung in the movie, a point of major contention and annoyance to purists.
9:13: Cate Blanchett: What a dog. (A comment that will make no sense to anyone not watching.)
9:15: High point of Cuba Gooding's career, winning best supporting. I wonder if he would have been so enthused if he'd been looking toward his future roles. Sheesh.
9:15: "Best supporting" could be referring to the front of Jennifer Hudson's dress...
9:17: Be great if Holbrook won, just for sentimental value. Probably won't.
9:18: Javier Bardem. No surprise there. Me, I love the line "I am Shiva, Goddess of death." I think I'll have a button made up that says that. I can wear it attached to my "Gaydolf Titler" shirt.
9:23: "Oscar's Salute to Binoculars and Periscopes." I sense the fine hand of the Daily Show staff on this one.
9:26: One of the songs that could benefit from the multiple nominations for "Enchanted." The singers are excellent, though, especially that little girl from the movie.
9:28: Owen Wilson. A talented actor, and I can only hope that he's gotten the help he clearly needed. Short films: Saw none of them. Does anyone ever?
9:30: Screw the one that won, I want to see that Tonto Woman thing.
9:31: God, Jerry, the damned film's out of the theater. STOP PLUGGING IT!!!!
9:32: Wow. That Madame Tutli Putli looks amazing.
9:33: Great. Now I'll have that blasted "Peter and the Wolf" tune by Prokofiev in my head for the rest of the night.
9:34: MERcidees McCambridge? I always thought it was MerSAYdees McCambridge.
9:35: We're rooting for Tilda Swinton, just because we like saying the name "Tilda Swinton." I'm thinking it will be Blanchett to make up for her not winning Best actress (which she won't), if for no other reason.
9:37: Yea! I guess lots of people like saying "Tilda Swinton."
9:39: Okay, now I'm dying to meet Tilda Swinton's agent, who I bet REALLY likes saying "Tilda Swinton."
9:44: And now, here are the awards to the people who are so important, so ingenious, and so brilliant, that we didn't want to waste your time presenting them here.
9:45: Okay, bloggers, fess up: Who put up the Gaydolf Titler t-shirt on Cafepress?
9:47: Interesting that in quoting "the best lines ever written" for adapted material, they cited "you're gonna need a bigger boat" which was, from what I understand, an ad lib by Scheider.
9:48: Let's go Coen bros.
9:48: Bingo.
9:49: "Hello there, everybody." "Hi, Doctor Nick!"
9:50: "this time of year, we don't have to pay for films; the studios want us to see their films." Okay, here's a flash: The rest of the year they have screening so they don't have to pay, and the studios ALWAYS want you to see their films, ya yutz.
9:52: Okay, there was some cute stuff in there, I'll admit it.
9:53: Here we go: The Enchanted song I'm rooting for. This one they'll do up right. But Amy Adams should be singing it.
9:55: Nice height on that jump.
9:56: Okay, okay: you can see the quality difference. I love Amy Adams, but you can see the higher level of performance from an experienced Broadway headline like Chenowith moving through a number like that.
COMMENT: True enough, Roger. Chenoweth is indeed one of the best: Bernadette Peters level. I wonder if they gave Amy Adams her choice of songs. If so, she made the right choice since it was a solo piece.
10:01: Who the hell...?
10:02: God, please, make it stop...
10:03 Sound editing? Transformers. That thing was wall to wall sound.
10:03; Winner was "Bourne Ultimatum." Yeah, well, big deal: They didn't have to deal with cars turning into something else during their car chases.
10:05: Okay, if these guys come out a third time, I'm going to gnaw like leg off at the knee.
10:06: Sound mixing now? Okay...probably Bourne.
10:07: Gee, that was tough to see coming considering what won just before.
10:08: My God, are they presenting best actress already? So let's see Sally Field.
10:09: Aw, c'mon: "You like me!" That's classic. Okay, anyway: Ariel is rooting for Ellen Page; Kath says smart money is Blanchett, although it's tough to get an Oscar for great acting in a lousy film.
10:11: I'm wondering if it might not be Julie Christie, back after such a long time.
10:13: Zut alors. That's a surprise. Winning for a non-English-language role is VERY tough. Although I haven't seen it; perhaps she speaks English during it.
10:17: Wiiiiiiiiii!
10:18: I was looking down and out of the corner of my eye it looked like Colin was roller skating. Apparently there's something slippery on the stage.
10:20: Well, THIS song is putting me to sleep...
COMMENT: I appreciate the assertion t that I'm better and faster at this than Harry Knowles. On the other hand, he has close to a thousand replies on his, so...
10:23: Boy, that's weird. I could swear Nicholson's hair was grayer at the beginning of the broadcast. Hunh.
10:24: A best picture montage? What the hell? It's not like they're giving away the Best picture Oscar now...?
10:25: Now me, i want to see a montage of some of the films that DIDN'T get "Best Picture."
10:26: As "Entertainment weekly" (I believe it was) noted, often it doesn't come down to what was the actual Best Picture, but which picture had the best Oscar campaign.
10:27: Don't walk awaaayy, renee....
10:28: Film editing: This can sometimes be an indicator for best film.
10:29: And sometimes not...
10:31: Check out the fake accent on Nicole Kidman.
10:32: Oh. Crap. That's actually how she talks, huh?
10:32: It's always interesting when they put together an explanation as to what the technical jobs actually mean when it comes to films. The best such that I ever saw was one for film editing in which they ran about fifteen seconds of the famous pursuit-of-the-train from "French connection," and the they ran it a second time with a counter in the lower right ticking off the number of edits in just that brief time. And it was something like forty seven edits.
10:36: Okay, in case you're wondering, this is Robert F. Boyle, born 1909, with a long and illustrious history in art direction. Last work was back in 1979.
10:38: Wait, I take it back. Production design work as recently as 1991.
COMMENTS: Yes, we checked IMDB, and no, in case you guys are wondering, there wasn't really an "untitled Nicole Kidman film" for 2010. Jon Stewart made a joke. Fancy that. And will someone please slap Luigi awake?
10:42: Did someone else have a feathery dress just like Penelope Cruz before, or is this thing starting to make me punchy?
10:43: The Counterfeiters was the odds on favorite for best foreign film.
10:45: And here's the third song from the film. It's a nice ballad song but I have the least attachment to it.
10:48: Boy, HIS voice is cracking.
10:49: Okay...best song goes to...
10:50: Great. The one that was putting me to sleep. Figures.
10:51: You think THIS is mad? Not as mad as the people at Disney are gonna be. That's what happens when you have three songs from the same bloody film.
10:57: VERY classy move by stewart.
10:58: Cinematography. Another potential indicator of best film.
11:00: Okay, we'll see if "There Will Be Blood" wins for Best Picture.
11:02: Respectful blog silence for the departed.
11:05: I can't help but observe that a number of the departed, if they won Oscars, would not be allowed to appear on the main telecast, because the jobs they do aren't sexy enough. It is only upon their passing that they get to have their faces seen on the Oscar cast. There's something fundamentally screwy about that.
11:08: I feel like I'm watching "Name that Tune."
11:09: Kath thinks Michael Clayton for best score.
11:10: Guess not. I was thinking maybe it would be "3:10 to Yuma." Then again, I tend to have a strong sense of Yuma.
11:11: How marvelously inclusive: our folks serving in Baghdad announcing short subject. Of course, there's some irony in that considering Iraq is in fact unending rather than short, but...
11:15: I'm going to try and check out this film when it shows up on HBO. You have to love the passion that these two women obviously have for it.
11:15: Best documentary. This should be interesting. Moore was snarking Bush back before it was stylish to do so. But he did it on the Academy awards and a lot of people still resent that.
11:17: Yup.
11:18: Oooo, nicely put, about the country moving away from the dark side. And I love that his late father was a navy interrogator who was furious over current questioning techniques.
11:23: Does Harrison Ford seem a little...off...somehow?
11:24: We're pulling for Juno here.
11:25: Bingo.
11:26: Love the tat. Exotic dancer, huh? Never have guessed.
11:30: Best actor coming up.
11:31: We're rooting for Johnny Depp; smart money says Daniel Day Lewis.
11:34: The most notable Viggo scene is the one they dare not show.
11:34: There Will Be Oscar. And Helen Mirren knights him with it! Who's queen?
11:36: "And to the other fine nominees in this category, I wish to say: I drink your milkshake!"
COMMENT: What did Stewart do that was classy? One of the creators from "Once" was given the bum's rush, and Stewart brought her back out and let her give her comments without being interrupted.
11:40: The run up to Best Director.
11:42: Thank God Stewart didn't try to make a joke about Scorsese.
11:42: Naturally we're rooting for Jason Reitman. Likely winner: Anderson.
11:43: Son of a gun. The Coen Bros.
11:43: So this would seem to narrow the field of Best Picture to "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country For Old Men."
11:45: Best picture. I guess it's good the montage was earlier; by this point it's Get On With It!
11:46: So much for the cinematography pointer. "No Country For Old Men." Then again, the best director pointer tends to trump the cinematography pointer.
11:48: And the award for best live blog coverage goes to...
Yeah. Figures. Well, maybe next year.
Great job by Stewart, I thought. I actually enjoyed it. Then again, it may be that writing this blog helped keep me focused since this is the most awake I've ever been during the Academy Awards.
The Mission Impossible theme. Perfect.
Yes, from the blog that gave you the live snarking of the State of the Union and commercial reviews of the Superbowl, Cowboy Pete will provide ongoing commentary on the Oscars. Why? Because I've only seen one of the nominated films and I want to do SOMETHING to keep myself awake. Coverage will begin at 8 PM, during which time Wrangler Kath and Cowgirl Ariel will provide fashion commentary for the red carpet arrivals, after which the ol' Cowboy himself will saddle up at 8:30 for the stultifying marathon that is the Oscars. Be here because, if you're not, you won't be.
UPDATE: Going live in one minute. Comments below the cut line.
PAD
ARIEL: Ann Hathaway's dress looked nice.
KATHLEEN & ARIEL: George Clooney's companion's dress has circles that seem to target where her nipples are.
ARIEL: Not much to say about guy's suits.
KATHLEEN: Clooney always wears a suit well.
ARIEL: What's hanging off her dress?
KATHLEEN: I have no idea.
KATHLEEN: Marion Cotillard looks like a freaking mermaid.
ARIEL: Yeah. From the waist up it's fine, but when you see the whole thing, she looks like a mermaid.
KATHLEEN: Laura Linney always looks elegant.
KATHLEEN: Miley Cyrus. Now that's a nice dress. It's conservative but sexy.
ARIEL: I wish she had done not floor length.
KATHLEEN: Yeah, but it's the Oscars, it's supposed to be floor length.
ARIEL: She's a teenager, she could have gotten away with it.
KATHLEEN: Jennifer Garner looks like she's about to pop out. Like the necklace.
ARIEL: What's up with Helen Mirren's dress?
KATHLEEN: It's beaded. Beautiful beading job.
ARIEL: Does it spread out like wings? It looks like she could spread out wings and fly. That would be so awesome.
(DANIEL DAY LEWIS's WIFE's dress)
ARIEL: That's fierce.
KATHLEEN: That's a Project Runway phrase: "That's fierce." It means it's young fashion.
KATHLEEN: (Amy Adams) A simple black dress, but it works well on her.
ARIEL: Did the little girl (from Enchanted) pick it out for her?
PETE: My God, this kid who won his seat looks like "Kenneth" from "30 Rock."
KATHLEEN: I like that Ellen Page didn't go for a hairstyle that doesn't make her look older.
KATHLEEN: (On the commentators) The green dress, I don't like. It's not a good color choice for her skin, and there's too much of it. There's a huge train on it. And she's got a belly bulge.
ARIEL: Beer belly!
KATHLEEN: Either that or she's pregnant.
ARIEL: The black one is nice. Shiny!
KATHLEEN: See the difference between the two? She (on the left) can walk in hers. She (on the right) isn't moving.
THAT'S IT FOR THE FASHIONS. MOVING UP TO A NEW THREAD FOR THE AWARDS THEMSELVES.
I spent an hour of my life I will never get back last weekend fruitlessly attempting to score Billy Joel tickets for his Shea Stadium concert. An hour of phone lines ringing busy, circuits being tied up, and web sites refusing to load. I mean, I never even got close to being able to purchase them.
Now, on ebay, there are no less than 194 sellers peddling anywhere from two to four tickets apiece.
Did anyone buy tickets to actually go and SEE the damned concert?
PAD
While attending Toyfair, I found out that Hasbro is putting together an international version of Monopoly, and instead of street names on the board, there will be city names. The color coding remains the same: The most valuable real estate will be on blue spots, for instance (normally occupied by Broadway and Park Place), and then green, yellow and so on. There is currently a vote going on that is open to anyone in the world with a computer, and you can vote once a day for up to ten cities. The top vote getters will be on Broadway and Park Place, and the rest will be apportioned to the remainder of the real estate.
Now how, you may ask, is the United States faring in this international voting? The answer: Miserably. Of the twenty eight properties on this quintessentially American game, only two US cities are making any kind of showing, and neither is in prime real estate. New York is #8 (relegated to the much less tony yellow section of the board), while, Las Vegas is an abysmal #23. What's number one, you may ask? The most popular international city?
Istanbul.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Personally, I think this is an abysmal state of affairs. Istanbul the number one city of international Monopoly? The best thing one can say about Istanbul is that it's a catchy song covered by "They Might Be Giants." But "New York, New York" is practically an anthem.
According to the woman at Hasbro I spoke to, the website where the voting is going on--www.monopoly.com--is getting 10,000 votes a day. That's not all that much. A concerted web effort can turn this around.
Obviously I want to see New York nestled in the top spot, with more US cities occupying as many of the rest of the valuable properties as possible. Knee-jerk patriotism? Unreasonable nationalism? Well...yeah. You got a problem with that? If the residents of freaking Turkey should be allowed that indulgence, so should I.
We've only got until February 28th to get it done, so spread the word to all and sundry. Feel free to repost this anywhere and everywhere.
PAD
Well, when the hosting company says "no action will be required on your part for this migration. We will archive and copy the site content to the new server", they're wrong.
Bear with us. And by bear, we mean one of those Stephen Colbert bears.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
--Shakespeare
The WGA membership voted overwhelmingly (92 percent from what I've heard) to end the strike. This is a separate matter from voting on the new contract, which will take place over the next two weeks. I suspect that will be ratified as well.
Writers should be back to work as of today.
PAD
A brilliant writer and talent, an entertaining dinner companion, and an all around great guy.
He will be missed.
PAD
An actual conversation I just had with an outfit that regularly calls Kathleen (during dinner time, of course) looking to have her donate money:
CALLER: Is Kathleen David there?
ME: No, she's not.
CALLER: When would be a better time to reach her?
ME: When she's here.
(Confused silence. Then...)
CALLER: Thank you.
ME: No problem.
PAD
An e-mail has been send around to WGA members stating that a tentative deal has been reached that, I get the impression, is going to be satisfactory to all concerned. A meeting was held today at 2 PM which I was not able to attend, since Ariel's High School bowling team had their county-wide playoffs today. One has to have priorities (Ariel's team came in second, by the way, and Ariel herself did excellently, shooting four games over 200.
From the tone of the letter, it appears that there will be no further picketing (which of course means the Oscars will go forward with no impediment--a big relief for Jon Stewart, I should think.) I have to think that, short of some sort of egregious problem, the strike is done.
PAD
Hillary will win the NY primary.
Why?
Because with Edwards out of the race, I voted for Obama.
PAD
Marv expressed dismay and, even worse, an interest in Ann Coulter because spammers forced me to shut down a WGA-related thread that he contributed to (a tactic, I suspect, of the AMPTP's. Just remember kids: You can't spell AMPTP's without sPAM. Coincidence? I. Think. Not.
So here's an entire thread dedicated to the greatness of Marv Wolfman.
Go nuts.
PAD
The Coke ad that features the dueling balloons...not only because it was funny, but it was prophetic. Here the Giants were predicted by just about every pundit to be losers, and in the fourth quarter there's an ad that shows perennial loser at sports, Charlie Brown, triumphing over the redoubtable competition of Underdog and Stewie.
Congrats, Coca Cola. You're still the real thing.
PAD
Yes, because you demanded it: Beginning at 6 PM, this website will provide ongoing commentary on the Super Bowl commercials.
Why? No clue.
PAD
6:00: Got scared. Heard them playing taps, thought it was for the Giants. Honestly, I'm hoping the Giants win, not just because I"m a New Yorker, but because every expert on ESPN opined the Pats by significant margins, and I'd love to see them all having to eat crow.
Based upon my typical means of picking winners in football--by their names-- though, this will be close. Giants obviously have the height advantage since they're giants. However the Patriots will be armed with missiles, and the Giants will make big targets. So it could flip either way.
6:14: Trailer for Vantage Point. Looks cool.
SYNC: Anaesthesia on.Love it.
Sarah Conner Chronicles: The show voted most likely to benefit from the Writers Strike, and deservedly so.
6:21: Drillbit Taylor. I can give that a miss.
ATT: Too bad they didn't have the monkey in front of the White House. That would have been a natural.
Dell. Eh.
Prison Break: The prisoners dig a tunnel into the Super Bowl. I may start watching the program just based on that.
6:35: Audi spoofs the Godfather. Brilliant...providing you've seen the Godfather. we have some folks over watching the Superbowl and one of them didn't remotely get it.
6:44: Pepsi--the first "Wake up"people commercial that doesn't annoy the crap out of me. Maybe it's because that song always did put me to sleep.
6:48: Bud light: Fun as always, although not their funniest.
Some sneaker commercial, i think. Stupid.
7:00: I-tunes and doritos--eh.
7:03: Wanted-not sure if I want it or not. Need to see more about it.
Go.Daddy, makers of the most juvenile commercials in the Superbowl. This year is no exception.
Dell--that's just what it's like for me when I walk through the streets, so I can totally relate.
7:05: Fed Ex flips the bird to carrier pigeons. Best commercial so far.
Cars.com. Personally i think I could take Gondor, but that's probably just me.
Talking stain. Don't get it.
7:14: Budweiser: horse training to Rocky movie. Frighteningly, the horse was a better actor than Stallone.
Iron Man trailer: Excellent. The one weak moment was the last wherein the visual looked too much like a video game. I'm thinking that last one is going to be fixed before it's released, just as the Hulk CGI was much improved between its Super Bowl premiere and the final film.
7:18: Toyota: People were talking and I didn't hear what the deal was, but the visuals were bizarre.
Leatherheads: Not sure what's going on with that, but it looked fun.
Garmin: Eh commercial, but I love the product.
7:24: Careerbuilder: Follow your heart. Not bad. COnsidering that most guys follow something lower, it's probably better they went with the heart and a woman.
I have no idea what dancing lizards has to do with Lifewater, but I loved it.
7:38: The feeling here among the Narnia fans is that the trailer looks cool.
So ugly Betty just needs to use cashews as perfume and she'll be the talk of the town? Cool.
t-mobile--Just reminds me that, once upon a time, you could get away from people. Now people are so addicted to their phones that they deliberately sacrifice privacy.
7:42: Pepsi: For those who thought Justin timberlake sucked...
Doritos--Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.
7:43: And the "Thank you Captain Obvious" award goes to the guy who just said that it's important to the Giants that they not give up points.
8:02: So we're at the half time, and I have to say...not all that impressed so far. A couple of standouts, but the reason they're standing out is that there's not that much competition.
8:05: I know this song. I think they used it in an episode of "Scrubs." Oh! Right. It was in the episode "My American Girl." That was a good episode. It featured the actor who played Pintel in "Pirates" as a demented radiologist who was insanely possessive of his machine.
8:31: Cars.com. I don't get it.
sales genie...uh...no.
Not sure why I like the visual of Shaq as a jockey, but I do. Doesn't want me to get the water, but...
You know, I was a little surprised that Fox decided to air "House" rather than "Terminator" after the Super Bowl. But considering the number of Terminator ads they've been running, it pretty much makes up for it.
8:36: I so would not have swerved to avoid Richard Simmons.
8:43: Hyundai: And I thought think about it...why?
First look at Wall-E. I"m not sure if it puts me in the mood to see that, but now I want to go back and watch "Toy Story 2" again. That was either Tom Hanks and Tim Allen or two of the best imitations I've ever heard.
8:51: Jumper. An entire movie about an article of women's clothing?
E*Trade--the talking baby who buys stocks. I am totally spooked by that.
Budlight--yeah, if I had the power of flight, yeah, that's what would probably happen.
9:02: American Airlines. Me, I would've rented a car and just driven out of there.
"American runs on Dunkin'." My ass, it does. I tried shoving a glazed crueller into the gas tank and all it did was screw up the engine.
9:05: And the new winner for Best Commercial so far: The Coke Commerial depicting the Underdog and Stewie Balloons from the Thanksgiving day parade fighting for a Coke, only to lose to Charlie. Unquestionably the best to this point.
9:12: So even Dems and GOP an agree on Coke. Okay.
9:21: Not a bad Taco Bell commercial.
9:23: Captain Obvious strikes again: "This is a critical time for both teams."
9:26: Is it my imagination, or is every character Will Ferrell plays identical?
9;44: Victoria's Secret. Okay...that's helping to get priorities in order.
And the Amp commercial just killed the mood from Victoria's Secret.
10:05 i predict the Giants will win.
I have taken the liberty of shutting down comments on the "Had a feeling" thread, not because anyone was saying anything unacceptable--indeed, Marv's comments were particularly welcome--but, Marv's posting notwithstanding, it appeared to have run its course and instead was serving as a magnet for a particularly virulent spambot. So I've turned off comments on that thread in hopes that it will dispatch the spambot to whatever cyberhell spat it out.
Second, just as a general reminder, this board will not tolerate people endeavoring to pose as, or post as, other people...particularly well-known people. Bad enough that it takes a certain degree of cowardice to snipe from hiding; endeavoring to impersonate others, no matter how hamhandedly and obvious such attempts are, is beyond the courtesy I wish to extend to posters. Indeed, such rude behavior deserves no courtesy whatsoever. So any counterfeit idiots will have their comments deleted. In the future I would appreciate more sensible board denizens refraining from responding to such yahoos because you'll just be perpetuating comments that I will have deleted and I'll probably have to wind up deleting your comments too, in order to avoid confusion.
Thank you.
UPDATE: And just so you know, if you're an idiot/one of the idiots who thinks that it's clever to post slams under fake names. Those comments aren't merely being deleted. They're being junked. What that means is that they're being kicked into a special folder which takes note of them. And if there are enough junked e-mails from one source, the program translate it as spam and blocks the origin point. Which means that such individuals will wind up effectively banning themselves.
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