Guitar Tournament - The Champion

After 41 days and 13 rounds of voting, from a field of 320 songs, one has emerged triumphant in the Greatest Guitar Solo Tournament.

America has spoken -- although not quite to the tune of 30 million votes, as per American Idol ... but close!

Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" claims the top spot.

This is incredibly surprising to me -- I don't think of the solo as being one of the best known; or one of the most technically proficient; or one of the most audacious. But, consistently, this song dispatched its competition, so convincingly, that there can be no doubt.

I had thought a Pink Floyd song would be in the finals -- although, I had thought it would be "On the Turning Away," which was eliminated earlier on. Clapton's "It's in the Way that You Use it," was another contender in my eyes, but it ran up against "My Sharona" (which, as I posted about last time, was my top choice).

In retrospect, this was *a lot* of work -- and it was overly ambitious. And, the limits placed (to make it at least manageable) didn't work the way I'd hoped (there are many, *many* amazing guitar solos in songs that never  hit #1 on a chart; but then, this survey would never be over!)

I think I'll stick to significantly smaller surveys from now on -- maybe 128 total entries (and, preferably 32 or 64) -- the sheer number wasn't even what made it so lengthy; it was also the amount of days. 41 days is a long time to hold interest -- and the tournament definitely saw voting interest wane towards the middle and pick up at the end.

Thanks again to everyone who stuck with it; and -- if you're one of those who voted in *every* round ... you may need help!

(Tomorrow, I hope, I'll be returning BACK to the focus of this blog again -- with a post on networking and the need for a wingman)

Guitar Tournament -- the Championship

The next-to-last round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up: The Final Four! You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Tuesday, May 21 (in the evening), with the winner announced that night!

For me, my #1 choice was finally eliminated. The impetus for this tournament was to prove a theory to myself -- that "My Sharona" was the most underrated guitar solo ever (because for an extremely "poppy" song, it definitely has one of the most energetic solos). However, Pink Floyd (which was my #2 choice, overall -- although not this song (the "On the Turning Away") song, ousted The Knack for a spot in the finals.

The other song is Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream," which handily won its matchup against The Black Crowes.

Here is the updated bracket!

Thanks for playing. The round will end Tuesday evening, with the winner announced that night!

Guitar Tournament - Round 7 - The Final Four

The next-to-last round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up: The Final Four! You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Saturday, May 18 (in the evening), and a championship matchup will be announced that night!

This has been an interesting tournament. We will definitely have one "Southern"-influenced song in the finals (as one matchup features The Black Crowes and Tom Petty). The other matchup pairs Pink Floyd (the most 'prog'-group remaining) against The Knack, with the poppiest-song in the tournament.

Van Halen, with its 11 songs in the tournament, is eliminated.

Here is the updated bracket!

Remember, this round will end Saturday evening!

Guitar Tournament - Round 6 - Elite 8

The sixth round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up. We're up to the Elite 8! You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Wednesday, May 15 (in the evening).

No band has more than one song remaining. It's truly anybody's guess at this point.

Definitely, a case could be made that some of the songs have gotten this far due to some favorable match-ups. That being said, "Jump" was eliminated, which certainly indicates people aren't just voting favortes.

Here is the updated bracket!

Remember, this round will end Wednesday evening, with the Final Four posted that evening!

Guitar Tournament - Round 5 - Sweet 16

The fifth round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up. We're down to the Sweet 16. You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Sunday, May 12 (in the evening).

Continuing our comparison (in the first round, there were 28 bands with 3+ songs in the tournament), here's the current list of bands with 2+ songs):

2: Van Halen

Some big surprises (to me) last round ...  Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" eliminated "I'm No Angel;" "Light My Fire" eliminated "Caught Up in You" (as two big western-rock songs fell hard), and "Here I Go Again" took out "Hotel California" - which may be one of the shockers, so far.

This round is bittersweet, as my two early favorites (what I would've thought might have ended up 1-2 if they had the opportunity to play) face off against each other. Only one will continue.

Here is the updated bracket!

Remember, this round will end Sunday evening (and the Elite 8 will be posted that evening!)

Guitar Tournament - Round 4 - Round of 32

The fourth round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up. You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Wednesday, May 8 (in the evening). With fewer songs (down to 32 now), the amount of time for each round is minimized, as well.

Continuing our comparison (in the first round, there were 28 bands with 3+ songs in the tournament), here's the current list of bands with 2+ songs):

3: Van Halen
2: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

And that's it -- and, Van Halen is going to lose one this round (since they're facing off against each other).

The biggest "surprise" in the tournament (to me) is Muse's Uprising, which continues to march on; but I think the 32 songs here are all solid contenders (and two of my three early favorites are still in the tournament; although they *cannot* face each other for the championship, due to the bracket setup (my third favorite was eliminated two rounds ago)).

Here is the updated bracket!

Remember - this round will end Wednesday, 5/8.

Guitar Tournament - Round 3 - Round of 64

The third round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up. You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Saturday, May 4 (sometime in the late afternoon). We're down to 64 songs in total; but you can always do some of the survey and save your work, and come back to it later.

From here, it just gets easier (in terms of time) - we'll be halving the number of songs each round. On the other hand, the choices, almost certainly, will become more difficult.

For comparison sake - remember that in the first round, there were 28 bands with three or more songs. Here's the current list of bands with 2+ songs:

5: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Halen
3: Eric Clapton
2: Def Leppard, Pink Floyd, The Beatles

ZZ Top - went from 5 songs to just 1. The Black Crowes went from 4 songs to just 1. And a whole lot of surprises happened in the last round.

One of my *favorites* to win the tournament was bumped (Pink Floyd's "On The Turning Away" -- in fact, it got only ONE vote (mine!)). Other surprising eliminations included No Rain (Blind Melon), Be Yourself (Audioslave), Let's Go Crazy (Prince) and Rest in Peace (Extreme), as well as Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue on Black."

But, ultimately, they all would have fallen at some point. Only one can be the champion, and now, we have one bracket to track.

I'd be lying if I told you it was getting easier.

Remember - this round ends this Saturday!

Guitar Tournament - Round 2 Kicks Off

The second full round of the Guitar Solo Tournament is up. You can access the survey now.

This round will continue through Sunday evening (4/28) -- remember, even though there are a decent amount of songs (128 in total) -- you can always stop and continue the survey later (from the same computer). No need to do it all in one sitting.

From here, it just gets easier (in terms of time) - we'll be halving the number of songs each round. On the other hand, the choices, almost certainly, will become more difficult.

For comparison sake - remember that in the first round, there were 28 bands with three or more songs. Here's the current list of bands with 3+ songs:

8: Van Halen
6: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
5: ZZ Top
4: The Black Crowes
3: Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones

Guitar Tournament - Play-In Round

The second play-in round is up  -- this is where we see if the Modern Rock tracks can match up with their Pop/Mainstream Rock counterparts.

This survey closes Sunday evening, with the next round up Monday.

Guitar Tournament - First Round - Part V (the last part)

The link to the survey for the final batch of 64 solos vying for the title of "Greatest Guitar Solo Ever" is up now.

Why are there now FIVE groups? Turns out, I'd forgotten one chart -- the Alternative/Modern rock chart. So, there are now 64 more songs, courtesy of that chart. I don't think many of them will advance particularly far; but a few of them may surprise.

Interestingly - today's Modern Rock chart is basically the closest to the 80s guitar rock that inspired this poll. Mainstream Rock (which used to be guitar rock) has transformed. Back then, it used to be Huey Lewis and the News; today, it's Godsmack.

Modern Rock - early days - had a lot of synth, and, truth be told, there's not a lot of all-out guitar solos (in many cases, the guitar work is happening while the singer is singing).

In any event, the addition of these songs means there'll be one more round -- these winners will be merged into the field for "play-in games" - and then we'll resume with a new field of 128 (total) and head towards our Final Four.

These songs also change the "leader board" for bands with the most songs in the list. Here's an updated tally (only those with 3+ songs):

11: Van Halen
8: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty (and Heartbreakers)
6: Beatles, Black Crowes, U2, ZZ Top
5: Rolling Stones
4: Bon Jovi, Collective Soul, Eric Clapton, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, REM, Shinedown
3: Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Bush, Def Leppard, Green Day, Huey Lewis and the News, Jane's Addiction, John Mellencamp, Nirvana, Richard Marx, Rush, Stone Temple Pilots

Remember - you're voting on the guitar solo; not the song, itself. You should be listening to the solo, because you may be surprised that some songs you remember had some pretty great guitar solos. You may like one song more, but find the guitar work is better in the other song. Of course, you can listen to the whole song as well, but the poll isn't about the song; just the guitar.

Why would you listen to the whole song?
1. You want to rediscover the song.
2. You want to learn something new about it.
3. It's reminiscent.
4. You have nothing better to do than listen to 320 songs (this is a judgment-free zone).
 
Here is the bracket for this group (the New Order division):

So, at last, here are ALL the links to all the surveys. These surveys will close on Wednesday, April 17, around 10:30pm EST.

Hendrix Division (part I)
Satriani Division (part II)
Emmett Division (part III)
Malmsteen Division (part IV)
New Order Division (part V)

Guitar Tournament - First Round - Part IV

The link to the survey for the next batch of 64 solos vying for the title of "Greatest Guitar Solo Ever" is up now.

You can access the survey, here.

Here is the bracket for this batch:

This constitutes the full 256 "songs" vying for the crown  ... or so I thought. I realized, late last evening, I may have overlooked one chart. I'll know for certain tomorrow if there'll be one more round, merging those songs (if there even are any) with these. In either event, the next round will kick off with 128 songs.


Stay tuned!

Guitar Tournament - First Round - Part III

The link to the survey for the next batch of 64 solos vying for the title of "Greatest Guitar Solo Ever" is up now.

You can access the survey, here.

Here is the bracket for this batch:

Guitar Tournament - First Round - Part II

The link to the survey for the next batch of 64 solos vying for the title of "Greatest Guitar Solo Ever" is up now.

You can access the survey, here.

Here is the bracket for this batch:

Introducing: The All-Time Greatest Guitar Solo "April" Madness Tournament!

I mentioned on Facebook about a week ago that I would be starting a pretty indepth "survey" again. We'd done this a few years back, when we elected Freddie Mercury the all-time greatest frontman for a rock band.

I've had this idea for a while, and I just knew it would be a lot of work (and it was a LOT of work). Trying to nail down the all-time greatest guitar solo is a daunting task.

So, there were a few guidelines. The song had to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 *OR* the Mainstream Rock 100 charts (that still left more than 1300 songs). I narrowed that down to 256, and rated them (which is how the seeding is established). Originally, I'd thought I could have room for some darkhorses, but eventually, mostly just the cream of the crop remained. I did remove any songs that essentially constituted nothing more than screaming (goodbye most of the Mainstream Rock from the past decade) and also any where the videos were simply disturbing (thankfully, there weren't many of those left, once the screaming songs were discarded).

The survey is set up into FOUR groups of 64 (which will be combined into one, after the first two rounds). I'll put up ONE group of 64 each day for the next four days, and all of them will close NEXT Wednesday. You can save and continue at a later time.

Clicking on the song title will bring you to the video of the song; or you can click on the next link and see JUST the solo (which, after all, is what we're talking about). I urge you to listen to the songs (or at least the solos) - you may be reminded of some long lost memories; or you may even find that songs had pretty sick solos that you wouldn't have expected. I was also surprised at which bands aren't even really represented (either because they didn't end up with a lot of #1 songs (Kiss) or because they weren't really guitar-driven bands (Nirvana, Linkin Park)

Here's a little trivia before we get started (future posts will simply have the link to that day's survey). Here is a list of the bands that had more than one song on the list (no surprise at the top):

11: Van Halen
8: Tom Petty (and Heartbreakers)
6: Beatles, Black Crowes, ZZ Top
5: Rolling Stones
4: Bon Jovi, Collective Soul, Eric Clapton, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Shinedown, U2
3: Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, Huey Lewis and the News, John Mellencamp, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Richard Marx, Rush
2: Audioslave, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Cars, Chicago, Creed, Dire Straits, Don Henley, Eagles, Grand Funk, Green Day, Hall & Oates, Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, REM, REO Speedwagon, Santana, Soundgarden, Steve Miller Band, Stone Temple Pilots, Theory of a Deadman, Three Dog Night, Tommy James and Shondells, Velvet Revolver, Yes

And, with that, here's the link to the first group of 64.

Here are the brackets for this first group:

P.S. - Regular blog posts, of a more professional nature, will return, once this contest/tournament is completed!

Musical Transformation

Admittedly, I haven't felt much like blogging for a while -- plus, I wanted my last post (about my mom's passing) to stand on its own. I really haven't had many ideas, recently; so I figured I'd take a cue from one of my friends' blogs, and just mail this one in....

I wrote about Charity Vance last year -- she was one of the contestants on American Idol the year I watched the show. Interestingly, my son *adores* her (even at 10 months old) -- her song "Run Away With Me" (which is the video embedded into the post I made) enthralls him every time he hears the opening piano notes.

I began searching for other blonde singers that had melodic tunes, and came across Nina Gordon ... who? you may ask... Well, as a solo artist, she released a song in 2000, called "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" -- a perfect sound for my son:



A really nice song, with slow, melodic sounds. He definitely likes it (not as much as he likes Charity, though). But, her name (and her look) sounded really familiar to me. Did a little more digging in my mind's memories, and realized -- hmmm .... only two years before THIS song, she was putting out stuff like this:



Wow - that's some transformation; in just two years. I mean, Phil Collins (and Peter Gabriel) left Genesis; but the music they put out wasn't *that* dramatically different.

Fortunately (I guess) for her die-hard fans, she released what I call "middle-ground" music just a few years later ... a cover of N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" - but with the same type of music as "Tonight and the Rest of My Life":



So, what musical artists do YOU think have gone through an equally dramatic metamorphosis? Anyone? Anyone even come close to comparing to the radical changes made by Ms. Gordon?

Rating the 2012 Super Bowl Ads

I’ve always wanted to do a Live Blog for a sporting event; but the timing has never been particularly good. Bill Simmons (who writes for ESPN) does this pretty often; and he’s always spot on with his observations.

I decided for my Super Bowl get-together that I would, in fact, do some blogging on the commercials. A total of five of us assembled to watch the game, the entertainment and the commercials. What follows is a grading of all the commercials (not including network commercials, necessarily), as well as an assortment of miscellaneous comments that were shouted out during the game by the various attendees.

My criteria for rating the commercials are pretty simple. To be successful, the commercial has to either be funny or cathartic/heart-warming (depending on its intent) *AND* the concept has to match the product, on some level (even loosely).

For those who didn’t see the game, you can actually check out the commercials (in basically the same order I’ve reviewed them) at this website.

So, with that, here goes.

The first thing we see is Faith Hill (“she’s ridiculously skinny for someone with three kids”) strutting her stuff to Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You” – once again continuing the NFL’s decade-long effort to stop time (see: The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney). I think I always knew this, but I’ve come to realize that I *hate* when song lyrics are rewritten to fit an event, just so the familiar tune can be played.

It’s not looking good for tonight.

#1: Hyundai Elantra. I like Hyundai. I drive a Hyundai. But, really, if you’re going to be the first commercial after the pre-game show starts, you absolutely have to rock it. Showing a non-sports car driving up and down the road, doesn’t cut it:   D

#2: GE: The first of several “GE is more than just a company; there’s real people working here” spots. These are better fits for the State of the Union Address … or the 4^th Quarter of a blowout. Not here:   F

#3: Kraft (“Boo Kraft” says the General Mills rep. “They’ve done more to promote one product than any other company.”) The commercial is forgettable. Yes, it’s a sassy, precocious young girl; been there, done that:   D

#4: We Play For You (The NFL Commercial) – Yes, it’s cute to see NFL players singing “Wind Beneath My Wings.” The whole thing is a little hokey, however. The best part is Jared Allen screaming “Nailed It!” at the end (“He’s such a hick!” says my friend from Minnesota):   C

#5: Will Arnett in the first of two Hulu Plus commercials. Once again, the commercial doesn’t do a lot to even explain the product. Arnett is usually funny; this commercial isn’t particularly.:   D

#6: Geico A bunch of teenage girls follow a man around while he tries to lose weight. Not particularly funny – although, at least they did tie it back to the product (“there’s an easier way to save”) – even still; will anyone be talking about this a year from now? A month from now?:   D

#7: Gilette Fusion ProGlyde Styler, featuring an A-List celeb (Adrien Brody); a B-List celeb (Andre 3000) and someone who’s still trying to make the C-List (Gael Garcia Bernal). Sure – I get it; use this razor, look like the celebs. Absolutely nothing new/amazing here:   D

#8: Pizza Hut. Interestingly, this was the submission by the winner of a contest to make a commercial that would be shown at the Super Bowl. I applaud the creativity. If it’s any consolation, he scored about the same as most of the higher-priced Madison Avenue advertising agencies:   D

#9: Movie – Safe House. Movies have it tough. If the movie is going to be great, the trailer is great, the commercial is great. There’s no way to do anything than spotlight/preview the movie here. Fortunately, Safe House looks decent:   C

We haven’t even gotten to the National Anthem, and already, the commercials are a fairly big disappointment. If this is the BEST; there’s not a lot of hope.

Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton sing “God Bless America” and they sound awful together. Clearly love doesn’t exactly make the joined harmony of their voices sound palatable to anyone. It’s just an odd pairing – perhaps next year they’ll get Geddy Lee and Harry Connick Jr. to pair up.

(At this point, as the camera pans across the Giants, I hear from my right, “How come Tom Coughlin always looks like he’s ready to kick a kitten through a fan?” No one knows … no one knows.)

Kelly Clarkson (or, someone they tell us is Kelly Clarkson) sings the National Anthem. Apparently, in an effort to fit in with the musical acts from the past decade, Clarkson has opted for a wardrobe and appearance that makes her look like she’s in her late 40s.

#10: Movie - The Dictator. Again, I’m not a huge fan of Sacha Baron Cohen. I find a little of his stuff funny; but not everything. This movie looks “wait for video”-ish:   D

#11: Droid Razr. I’m a big fan of the Android system. I love my phone. I might even get a Razr. But, when are phone manufacturers (especially smartphone manufacturers) going to realize that there’s more people look for than the color and the thickness?:   D

#12: Old Navy. I’ll admit, I thought this commercial was legitimate. I actually raised my rating a little bit when I saw that it was a spoof. The concept of Corporado Wear was hysterical; and I was glad when I saw it was intended as a joke:   D-, first/ C+

#13: McDonalds Charities. I don’t know how it could be anything but high-rated. You can’t show a picture of sick children being saved by a charity and expect it not resonate. “I’d just be an evil human to even think about saying anything funny about that commercial.”:   B

#14: Another Hyundai spot – another commercial showing a car driving on a road. I get that that’s what cars do; but I don’t know that commercials have to only show that. There’s clearly an opportunity for humor in a commercial (hell, for years, Budweiser was absolutely genius at bringing humor into a product that’s not really known for being “funny.”):   D

#15: Hyundai’s “Rocky” spot, where real employees from a Birmingham, Ala. plant try to inspire a designer to “find a way” while humming/singing “Gonna Fly Now.” Yes, it’s one of the best so far – that’s not necessarily good news. Clearly, Hyundai and GE hired the same creative consultant (“Real people – it’ll sell, and you’ll save a ton of money on talent!”):   C

FIRST QUARTER

#16: Bud Platinum. This was a great opportunity for Bud – the FIRST commercial after kickoff. Instead, they turned it into a science fair project – worse yet, it doesn’t even appear appetizing (“It looks like a Zima!”):   D

#17: Audi pokes fun at the Twilight/Vampire genre, with a ~funny~ (I snickered) spot, where one vampire heading to a party, inadvertently shows up with his headlights still on; and each vampire is vaporized. Too bad they couldn’t get Larry David for the spot (who couldn’t see this on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Twilight? Was it effective? Somewhat (we’ll remember it) – but, will we remember it for the right reasons? “The entire premise for the car is to promote how bright the headlights are?”:   B+

#18: Pepsi’s hyped spot including Elton John and Melanie Amaro, the winner of the X-Factor. The commercial, while glitzy, was completely unremarkable – there was no point to the dialogue/interaction. While it started as a C-, it got bumped to a C+ due to the cameo by Flava Flav at the end.

#19: Hyundai Velostar. This ad got a lot of love, due to the Cheetah; but I thought it was just average. Nothing remarkable. Maybe I was just suffering from automobile advertising saturation:   D

#20: Bud Light Platinum – a second opportunity; a second failure. Granted, I’m not the target audience, but if you’re putting out an ad on the world’s largest stage, why would you do anything that wasn’t completely amazing? And, who thought this was?:   D

#21: M&Ms Dancing Naked – the first “success” of the game. We were laughing so hard we nearly missed the last punchline. Did it have much to do with M&Ms? No – but personification is always pretty funny. This one gets a thumbs-up:   A-

#22: Best Buy. Best Buy sells phones. Great. If you didn’t know this before this commercial – you got something out of it. Otherwise:   C+

#23: Coke – the iconic, omnipresent polar bears make their first appearance of the game. Here, one of the bears is keeping his fingers/arms/toes, etc. crossed, hoping his team wins; making it impossible to drink his coke. His partner comes up with a solution. Is it life-changing? No. Is it cute? Yes:   B-

#24: Chevy’s Silverado survives the apocalypse (which, surprisingly, isn’t *started* by Barry Manilow; but his song celebrates the survivors – I would’ve gotten that wrong, if there was a bet). It was a cute spot; with some digs towards competitors (“Dave didn’t make it … he drove a Ford):   C-

#25: Bridgestone had two sports-related spots (again, these worked decently – good commercials can tangentially relate to the product and still succeed). This was the football one (where the football behaves almost like a frisbee …) Plus, it has Michelle Beadle in it – that automatically qualifies it for a   B-

#26: Go Daddy – for years, Go Daddy has tried to push the envelope, alluding to “unrated content” on its website; and steering just clear of the censors. It’s time for something new. These commercials don’t even relate tangentially:   D

#27: Lexus – certainly, part of my disinterest is that I’m not the target audience. I don’t view cars as the be-all/end-all of status; nor do I worry about them that much. Their function is to get me from Point A to Point B – and that’s all. But, there has to be more than simply showing a car driving on a road (or, in this case, driving out of a ‘metal shed’ for about 20 feet, before coming to a halt. As much as the Audi commercial may have featured the wrong thing; I’ll still remember it longer:   D

#28: Movie – Battleship. If you needed a hint that Hollywood has run out of ideas; look no further than this. We’re making movies based on board games now? (Even more scary – someone just picked up the rights to “Candy Land.” Ugh.:   D-

SECOND QUARTER

#29: Budweiser. While it’s not funny, this commercial does tug at the heartstrings a little. It’s not as iconic as the Post-911 commercial (which, to my chagrin, they re-released this past year; it was more meaningful when it really had run *just once.*). But, there’s always something majestic about the Clydesdales:   C

#30: Doritos – I’m a fan of dark humor; and this one has it in spades. The look on the dog’s face while he’s bribing the owner, is fantastic. We all laughed heartily (and, this may have been our favorite commercial, collectively):   A

#31: The Chevy Happy Grad ad – the ad is fairly cute (and, kudos to a car company for trying something other than “here’s the car driving…”). I don’t know that it will win any awards, and it probably suffered from following the great Doritos commercial:   C+

#32: GE Turbine factory – GE continues to showcase its talent in spots that are too slow-moving and lethargic for the Super Bowl. Here, they try to “cool up” their talent, “No, we don’t make the beer; we make the machines that make the beer…” Sadly, this isn’t even the last one of the game:   D

#33: Movie – John Carter. Looks interesting and impressive. Maybe one of the better action films I’ve seen a trailer for (by the way – how on earth did “The Hunger Games” not ante up for a spot at the Super Bowl? Big miss…). I’ll see this, and the commercial gets a   B+

#34: Tax Act. I get the metaphor (the relief from urinating is akin to getting a nice tax refund … ummm … maybe I don’t). “I’ve gone to the bathroom in five of the places he decided to pass by.” “He’s smiling [at the end, in the pool] but he’s still sitting in a pool in his own pee.”:   C+

#35: Movie – The Lorax. The Lorax may be one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books; and I’ve been looking forward to the movie. The trailer didn’t convince me not to see it; but, in all honesty, I don’t know that the trailer would’ve convinced me to see it:   C

#36: Finally, a great car commercial. Volkswagen puts out a commercial showing a dog, bummed out by weight; that gets on a program, and drops the pounds. It’s another “classic” from this year’s crop:   A-

#37: H&M – I’m pretty sure the advertisers know that most football fans are males. Yes, I know women are the largest growing sector; but that’s probably due to the fact that there’s not as much opportunity to grow the male sector. In any event; there’s probably better visuals for ads than subjecting men to stare at David Beckham’s junk for 30 seconds:   D-

#38: Coke – one of the cuter polar bear commercials. He navigates through a host of other bears trying to get a handle on the bottle before he drops it. Good for a smirk; maybe a giggle:   B+

#39: Chevy Sonic – the stunt car commercial. I’m reminded when I was in college; I took a summer job selling expensive cutlery/knives. There were a bunch of demos we did as part of the sales process – cut bread super-thin; cut leather; cut a penny in half. But, in the end, my customers would never have the occasion (or reason) to do that; and I made no sales. I’m wondering whom the Chevy people think are going to drop a car from an airplane or do a mid-air flip with their car? Does knowing the car CAN do that really increase sales? I’d almost rather stare at David Beckham’s junk:   D-

#40: Movie - Star Wars 3D – The movies were iconic; this trailer doesn’t do anything to improve upon that. Therefore, it effectively fails:   D

#41: Movie – The Avengers. While I worry that we may be reaching saturation with the number of superhero movies; this one looks pretty damned cool. I like many of the characters here. One can only hope the movie delivers on the promise of the trailer:   C+

#42: Teleflora – the anti-Beckham ad. Show a lingerie model for 30 seconds. Instant win:   B+

#43: Pugs are cute. Pugs outracing a pack of greyhounds and whippets is pretty cool. A pug that celebrates by moonwalking over the finish line is memorable. Skechers hits a ground-rule double here (see how I mix the metaphors; using a baseball metaphor to describe an ad at a football game?):   B-

#44: Cars.com – the customer has a ‘head’ pop out of his neck; his “confidence” – definitely more creepy than cute or effective. But, it’s memorable (even if I can’t remember the song; I may just remember, “hey, which company thought it was a good idea to put out an ad showing a second head? Oh, that’s right – cars.com” – if that’s what they were going for; they nailed it. Somehow, I don’t think so:   C-

#45: The second Doritos ad, and they’re two for two. This one shows the bratty kid showing off to his grandmother and sibling, how he has the Doritos, and they don’t. She sets up a slingshot and sends the infant sibling hurtling towards the bratty kid to grab the bag. Obvious and there’s no surprise; but it’s still cute:   B+

#46: Yeah, the E*Trade baby is old (almost approaching the “Wazzzzup” from Budweiser a few years back); but at least they always find something fresh to add in. Here, while the “speed-dating” remark had very little to do with investments (unlike previous punchlines); it’s still successful (and, let’s face it – they’re happy with people remembering nothing more than “hey, we’re the company with a talking baby!”):   B+

#47: Movie – GI Joe. Does Hollywood have any original ideas anymore? Could there be a movie that is generated from nothing more than a screenwriter’s imagination; and not leveraged against cartoons, characters or board games?:   C-

#48: NFL: Play like a Millionaire. Sometimes, sports leagues come up with awesome campaigns (The NBA … it’s FANtastic!). Sometimes, they put out stuff like this:   D-

#49: We see the first of our Ford/Mustang commercials (“Ooh, wow, a car driving along the road; awesome!”) and – at the end, the window rolls down and a too-cool Derek Jeter is driving. That’s all he does. I *despise* commercials that are nothing more than a celebrity making a cameo, for no reason other than they’re celebrities. This one gets:   F

#51: Another Hulu Plus ad with Will Arnett; another ad that I basically turned off after a few seconds. This did not impress me, again. Not funny; not memorable; not effective. If I didn’t know what Hulu was, this didn’t enlighten me:  C-

HALFTIME

#52: LMFAO head to the Halftime bar to play halftime at the Super Bowl in this Bud Light commercial. It’s kind of a riff on the scene from The Blues Brothers when they show up at the bar (“We have both kinds of music here – country AND western!”):   C-

Madonna performs at halftime, and there’s been a lot written about that performance – from her lipsynching; to the rapper that flipped the bird and cursed, to the ‘tightrope/slackrope walker” that basically looks as though Richard Simmons and Will Ferrell had a love child:

#53: The Voice – I know I said I wouldn’t review network commercials; but this was a little more than a network commercial. It had a great premise (the life-like comic strip); Adam Levine gets punched in the face; and Betty White appears. Betty White is in better shape at 90 than I am:   B-

#54: Chrysler’s now famous Clint Eastwood commercial. Yes, it’s inspirational; and it was a great time for it (it HAD to happen at halftime; anywhere else, and it would’ve been glossed over). “I feel like invading a country right now!”:   B+

THIRD QUARTER

#55: BMW shows off a new feature (heated steering wheel) and all the passengers huddle around the driver. In what’s becoming a common thread, the commercial is cute, smirky, but not amazing:   C+

#56: Drew Brees’ kid kicks a football through a window, and he uses his Chase online banking to pay the victim immediately. “Drew Brees doesn’t live in any house that close to the street; maybe his servants may live there; but he doesn’t.”:   C

#57: Another Derek Jeter/Ford commercial. Why do we care?:   D-

#58: Fiat Avalon – yeah, it’s cute – a hot woman; and the joke at the end is okay, but maybe we’re getting desensitized. It’s not really all that amazing of a commercial; but, it’s still better than the Hyundai commercials (there’s been a LOT of car commercials this year, right?):   C

#59: The Coke Zero driver is the winner of a Pepsi Max contest and he’s embarrassed. This is still the runoff from the first commercial a few years ago, when the Coke and Pepsi driver meet in the bar, form a friendship, then fight. It’s my favorite soft drink (Pepsi Max) – but, I think they need a new concept:   C-

#60: The Toyota Camry shows how things are being “reinvented” – by the way, if I can put in a request for the fat-shedding rain, I’d be delighted. It’s cute and it’s definitely not the “car on the road” that has become standards. It’s not amazing though, and I wonder whether anyone will remember to tie “Toyota” to the various innovations/fantasies they show here:   C-

#61: The final Coke commercial with the polar bears. The one polar bear sneaks out to get a coke, but there’s none left. This is the weakest of the commercials – last year (or the year before), Coke had some amazingly innovative commercials. I could go with one, maybe two polar bear commercials; but they needed something else to mix it up:   C

#62: John Stamos gets head butted. That makes the Oikos yogurt commercial worth it. Definitely a hit, and one that will be memorable:   A-

#63: Century 21 uses Deion Sanders, Donald Trump and Apollo Ohno in a commercial. I’ve already covered how I feel about celebrities in commercials with no real relation to the product:   D

#64: The Seinfeld Acura ad (arguably the second-most hyped ad before the actual game). Definitely a good commercial – 10 years ago, we would be raving about it; but now, commercials need to be more than “good.” I would’ve liked to have seen some more “Seinfeld” references, but that may have been expecting too much:   B+

#64: GE puts out another human-interest commercial. One of the voices says they were happy to be working for GE, after they had been laid off by their previous company. “Yes, I’m thankful to have the chance to do monotonous grunt work all day” says one of my guests. In related news, we’re all going straight to hell:   D

#65: Budweiser creates a “history of music” commercial, using The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” and setting it to an assortment of tempos and genres. Dancers interpret the song, and it’s a good, enjoyable commercial – not sure what it has to do with beer, though:   C

#66: Bridgestone’s second commercial is the “quiet” basketball. Michelle Beadle is in this one too (along with a few other athletes, including Steve Nash). The relate the ad back to the product (even loosely), and, although it’ll not be remembered forever (like the great ads), it’s still solid (and helped by the lack of any other tire-company ads):   B-

#67: Here, we have a commercial from a sports league done right. The “evolution” of the NFL is a great commercial; heartwarming, inspiring, and a treat for fans. This is the kind of commercial that makes new fans – the stories and legends and history of a sport can be powerful, emotional triggers:   A-

#68: Ricky Gervais and a few other celebrities endorse Time Warner Cable in a fairly entertaining spot. Yes, this is celebs again; but Ricky is doing more than simply showing up, flashing his face and getting paid:   C

#69: And, here’s my pal Derek Jeter, again, in the same Ford/Mustang commercial. The rating hasn’t changed:   F

FOURTH QUARTER

#70: Easily the most hyped ad before the Super Bowl (and, frustratingly, the poster child for the argument of whether ads should be released before the game). Matthew Broderick/Ferris Bueller’s character tools around town all day in a Honda CR-V, while he skips work. The commercial pays homage to the movie and contains a plethora of ‘easter eggs’ (many other blogs have dissected just this one commercial):   A

#71: Movie - Art of Valor. It’s real people – that’s pretty cool; but the trailer isn’t very engaging or interesting:   C

#72: Met Life puts out a commercial that rounds up all the cartoon characters they have as mascots or are affiliated with Met Life in any way (beyond just Snoopy). I find myself wondering why:   C-

#73: Hyundai puts out a funny commercial (At last!) Clearly, everyone was waiting for the end of the game (and, thankfully, it was a close one, for the advertisers’ sakes) to put out their star commercials. This one shows the driver using the speed up/brake/speed up/brake technique as a form of CPR to revive his passenger (in a funny manner – not intended to be serious or traumatic):   B

#74: The Budweiser rescue dog – WeGo, a dog rescued from a shelter that can retriever Budweiser on command. The dog is put in several hysterical positions during the commercial; and, at the end, Budweiser touts its commitment to rescuing dogs. Fantastic execution. “First it entertained; then it endeared!”:   A

#75: Motley Crue shows up in a Kia ad that starts when “Mr Sandman” accidentally trips and basically puts his target into a sleep coma. It’s hard to find fault in a commercial that understands its viewing audience:   B+

#76: CareerBuilder continues using the Monkeys, and they’re always funny (and, much like the Gecko for Geico, they’ve become synonymous – it doesn’t matter whether they relate to the product; the branding has been so successful that they ARE the product now):   A-

#77: Samsung Galaxy. I know this commercial has gotten ridiculed; but it does two great things: Makes fun of Apple (always worth a few points) and gets recording artist The Darkness into the commercial. The song – I Believe in a Thing Called Love – is one of my favorite ‘rock’ songs from the past few years (I even downloaded it for Rock Band as soon as it came out):   A

#78: Cadillac makes an appearance and brings an end to the innovative car commercials – it’s another commercial of a car on a road – big deal. Still, I can’t complain. The fourth quarter has been the best so far, and we just had a run of FIVE STRAIGHT good to awesome commercials:   D

#79: The last commercial of the Super Bowl proper is yet another Go Daddy ad. This one, touting the Internet Cloud. Again, the schtick has gotten old. Go Daddy’s ads, once controversial and intriguing, now just look tired and desperate. It’s time to reinvent:   C-

For those of you keeping score at home, the average of these 79 commercials is exactly a “C” (which is as it should be). I didn’t actually track the scores during the game (I rated each one on the spot; but I didn’t track the scores to ensure the average would be the average). To me, the fact that average is a C just proves the validity of the ratings.

What commercials did you enjoy? Which did you hate?

The Marshmallow Test

I have to confess, I only learned about this a few weeks ago. Apparently,sometime in the 1960s, a psychological study was started at Stanford University, which examined children's willingness and ability to delay gratification. A child, about 4 years old, is seated at a table with a giant marshmallow on a plate. The researcher tells the child, "You can eat this marshmallow now, or you can wait 10 minutes. If I come back, and the marshmallow is still there, I'll give you another marshmallow and you'll have TWO!"

The researcher leaves and the resulting agony/internal conflict is videotaped (and, eventually, placed up on YouTube).



As I watched this, I was fascinated. But, as I tend to do -- I started to think about the larger perspective. How interesting it is to watch these children agonize over something as simple (to us adults) as whether to eat the marshmallow. The stress and pressure they put on themselves is reminiscent of life-altering decisions adults have to make. And, you can't help but be envious of the children -- how great it would be, again, to have the most difficult decision in your life be simply holding out for 10 minutes, so you can double your marshmallow bounty.


Credit where credit is due -- I read about this for the first time on Bill Simmons' new Grantland website. His discussion on the phenomenon is far more detailed (and humorous) than mine.

What do YOU think about when you see this (especially if it's the first time you've seen it....)?

Why I Don't Really Like Baseball Anymore

For years, I was a huge baseball fan. More than any other sport, baseball has a robust history, and it was my sport of choice growing up.

Today, while I still appreciate the history and lore of the game, it’s nearly impossible for me to root for a team (or even watch a game on TV) anymore. I still enjoy going to games – minor league games more than professional; but that’s consistent with my overall sports interests (I prefer college basketball to pro basketball; college football to pro football, etc.).

And, this past week, a number of situations arose that caused me to become even more disillusioned with the sport. But, that got me thinking – what were the steps that started my fractured relationship?

Free agency – all sports have this, but baseball started it and is the worst culprit. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t necessarily have a problem with players moving teams, from a business-viewer perspective (i.e., the reserve clause probably WAS illegal on some levels). But, as a fan, I long for the days when players spent their entire careers with one or two teams. And, those days are long gone – there are but a handful of players who will do that (and, all too often, the loyalty isn’t returned by the team, either…)

But, even more than the loss of a player spending his career with one team (I mean, how do you root for a “team” when the roster makeup changes by 50-60 percent each year?), the impact really hit home when it came to money. Obviously, if you’re going to woo someone to play for your team, it’ll cost you, and the salaries in baseball (and all sports, admittedly) have increased at a pace that dwarfs any business in America. And, who gets to pick up the slack? The fans, of course.

Strike – I wasn’t even a teenager for the 1981 strike, which lasted 50 days. But I was a young adult for the 1994-95 strike, which really drove a strike through my heart. If I had to point to ONE situation that had caused me to fall out-of-love with baseball, it would be the 94-95 strike, which devastated the sport (even more than the steroids scandal, which, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t even enter this list).

It’s reminiscent of how I was feeling last year, while I was looking for work. I decided, although I could do my job for ANY company, it was important for me to work for a company with a cause/mission/principal I could get behind. This came to a head when Cablevision began its litany of assaults on Scripps, causing viewers to miss many shows (same thing that happened with ABC and FOX). And, each time, Cablevision’s PR department had to craft message after message to show that they, in fact, weren’t the villains. It was all the other person’s fault. The viewers were the only losers. And, I thought to myself, how dismal it must be to come to work each day and craft passive-aggressive messages over what amounts to pennies.

And that brings us to this past week – first, the All-Star Game (being held tonight). A few years ago, the All-Star Game was revealed for its true purpose – effectively nothing – when a tie game was left as a tie, for the first time in history. The following year, the commissioner decided the winner of the All-Star Game would earn home-field advantage in the World Series. Now, the All-Star Game isn’t the festival it was when I was younger (interleague play killed that, too, which probably deserves its own entry here, but, quite honestly, I was disillusioned before that), but no fewer than 16 players – four from the NY area -- banged in “hurt” for the game (Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Reyes – the batters were actually voted as starters by the fans).

Again, the fans suffer.

But, the coup de grâce was this past weekend’s complete mishandling of Derek Jeter’s pursuit of 3000 hits.

The game on Friday evening was rained out – unfortunate, and certainly something that happens in July.

The game COULD have been rescheduled as a straight double-header (e.g., fans come in for the first game and stick around for the second) simply by the Yankees saying, “this is what we want to do.” The opposing team would have no say in that decision.

However, the Yankees decided, instead, to propose a split double-header, where the teams play one game; the stadium empties, and then fans are re-admitted for a second game in the evening. They did need the Devil Rays’ consent for this, which the Tampa team did not grant.

On the surface, this seems almost sensible – why have the teams play back-to-back when they could rest for an hour or two in between. But, the Yankees were quick to squash that misperception:

When asked why the Yankees chose not to play a straight doubleheader Saturday, general manager Brian Cashman said: "Gate. We're not interested in losing, going from 81 home games to 80."

Wow. So, once again, it all comes back to money. Doesn’t it always? So much for Ernie Banks’ great mantra – “Let’s Play Two!” and so much for the days of Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie and Honus Wagner where they played each day because they had a calling and they thoroughly enjoyed the sport. The idea of sitting out a game – an all-star game, or even a “meaningless” regular season game, never occurred to those players, lest they end up like Wally Pipp.

Yes, a great deal of that mindset had to do with the fact that there was no free agency (as we covered before) and perhaps that bordered on the illegal from a business sense; but I’d fully support a move where players weren’t motivated to head to a team due to money; but rather, because a team was the best fit or offered the best chance for that player to succeed or win.

It’s not unprecedented; Greg Maddux did that in 1992, signing for $6 million less with Atlanta instead of choosing to play for the Yankees. "Greg, above all, wanted to win," said his agent, Scott Boras. “The Braves offered him the most substantial degree of assurance of taking the World Series.”

And, while that didn’t turn out the way Maddux had planned, entirely, the Braves did make three World Series during his tenure (half as many as the Yankees – but the Yankees of 1996 were a markedly different team than the one of 1992, when Maddux made his decision).

In the end, I’ll probably content myself with reading the history, playing Strat-O-Matic (where contracts and contentious negotiations don’t enter into the equation) and avoiding the game today – it’s far more interesting in the rearview mirror.

The Rapid Decline of John Grisham

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

I can still remember when John Grisham's "The Firm" came out -- it was an instant best-seller and a book I rapidly read through.

Secretly, I suspect, I'm a frustrated would-be lawyer. I don't think I'd really enjoy *being* a lawyer, but I do think I enjoy thinking about being one. Consequently, I find myself drawn to legal thrillers (as Grisham used to write).

"The Firm" was a good book - for 90 percent of the book. I felt he copped-out a little at the end, by making the main antagonist, essentially, the Mafia.

Of course, this wasn't his first book -- he had an earlier one -- but this was the one that put him on the map.

Quickly, Grisham began pumping out books - more quickly, perhaps, that anyone this side of James Patterson.

And, some of them were really pretty good -- "Runaway Jury" is still one of my favorites by him, "The Client" was pretty good, as well.

But, somewhere along the way, Grisham became a fan of the non-ending ending. And, that's disappointing.

He first veered away from being, what I would consider, a legal writer, some time ago. And, for sure, that diminished some of my interest. He stopped focusing on the nitty-gritty and his books became more of a "soap opera starring lawyers" genre. But, at least the endings were fulfilling.

I just recently finished two of his books -- the first, "The Associate" was an utter disappointment. A young lawyer, who had witnessed/been an accomplice to a rape years earlier in college, is 'recruited' by computer hacker thugs to steal information. He finally gets the FBI involved, and a sting is set up, but the cons catch on and flee, never to be heard from again. In other words, a lot of nothing happens.

From the book's Wikipedia page:

Janet Maslin of the New York Times stated, "Mr. Grisham so often writes similar books that the same things must be said of them. The Associate is true to form: it grabs the reader quickly, becomes impossible to put down, stays that way through most of its story, and then escalates into plotting so crazily far-fetched that it defies resolution. Kyle McAvoy is another of the two-dimensional yet terrifically likeable heroes who come to life on Mr. Grisham’s pages only to evaporate later. It’s easy to predict what choice Kyle will make at the end of the novel. It’s impossible to imagine, let alone care, what his life will be like once the improbably wild furor surrounding this one lone law-firm recruit is over."

Somehow, this "non-ending" apparently has become his go-to manuever. Following "The Associate" I immediately read his next novel, "The Appeal." This had a lot more grit to it. Town in Mississippi has been the site of toxic dumping that resulted in a cancer level 15x the national average. Two small-town lawyers win a $40 million lawsuit against the manufacturer, who is then approached by a firm that helps "win/fix" elections. Through less-than-honorable ways, the firm helps a candidate who is more sympathetic to the plight of manufacturer's liability win an election over a previously heavily favored incumbent. The verdict is overruled; the case is dismissed; and the manufacturer goes on, happily ever after.

Now, what this *doesn't* tell you is how much Grisham builds up the protagonists -- the two lawyers that are struggling to keep their firm (and the hopes of 300+ clients awaiting the outcome of this case) -- to be extremely sympathetic. The antagonist -- the CEO of the manufacturing company -- is near-devil-like. Even the patsy candidate is barely likeable. The lines are drawn very tightly.

Of course, at the last minute, the new judge has a personal tragedy in his life that -- we think -- may help him make the *right* decision (and uphold the verdict); although, as I was reading the book, I kept thinking what a convenient (and, as such, ridiculous) premise this was -- the weekend before he's set to make his decision, *something* happens to make him rethink HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

But, it's even worse than that; even faced with this new information, he still makes the wrong decision, and the bad guys ultimately win.

Admittedly, both of these books, on some level, were inspired by real-life information. And, I'm certainly not one to say "the good guy always has to win." But, I'm trying to determine why Grisham seems to think it's more important to keep his audience in suspense; as compared to the characters in his novels.


Easy for me to say, of course; considering the wide array of New York Times bestsellers I've penned already; but a reader can only know what he likes -- and I'm starting to feel like Grisham has been mailing it in for a while.

With the move of Richard North Patterson away from legal thrillers and into more political stories; that effectively leaves Scott Turow as the only true legal-thriller writer I know of (and he only comes out with books every 4-5 years, it seems; although "Presumed Innocent" is still the gold standard of legal mysteries).

Anyone else have any favorites in the legal thriller arena that I should be checking out?

The Greatest Disappointment of My Adult Life

Hi, my name is Chris, and I now find myself strangely addicted to reality shows.

For YEARS, I avoided such shows, commenting on the drivel that lazy TV networks were pushing out at viewers who lapped up the content. As a writer, I was particularly disappointed, since I saw the movement as a decided step away from quality writing on television (like The West Wing, The Shield, Lost, etc.).

So, when Survivor first came out, I avoided it (and, still haven't seen an episode yet). When Big Brother and The Amazing Race were introduced, I continued my mantra (despite the fact that, apparently, The Amazing Race was well done).

But, let me back up for a minute. Really, although I consider my new-found "love" for reality shows to be a recent development, it actually started a LONG time ago. I watched the first season of The Real World in 1992 (wow, that hurt, I could've sworn I was in high school when I first saw that show -- not already a college graduate!). And then, a number of years ago, when I had a prolonged stretch of unemployment (and, unlike this past stint, I actually did lapse into mild depression), I found myself staying up late at night, drawn to shows like The 5th Wheel and ElimiDATE, primarily due to the cringe-worthiness of the contestants and the decidedly mean-spirited approach taken by the show.

But, then I got a job, and that period of my life went away (and, the shows got canceled), which enabled me to get back to good television.

When we first got the Food Network, I was drawn to shows like Iron Chef America -- I don't like to cook; not one bit; but I do like to eat. And, there was something appealing about seeing great food being made, with the pressure of time AND the competitive angle.

So, officially, my first "reality" show that I began watching religiously was Chopped. Unlike Iron Chef America, the contestants really only have the time we see on the show. They get four semi-random ingredients per course, and they must make an appetizer, entree, dessert in 20-30 minutes (including plating). They have no knowledge of the ingredients beforehand, and after each course, one chef gets "chopped."

From there, it was only natural that I'd find Top Chef -- which I consider to be the best cooking show on television. The competitions are innovative, and they do an outstanding job of showcasing personalities of the chefs as well as the cooking (so, you're actually invested in the chef and his/her progress throughout the show).

Continuing on the award-winning path, I next discovered Deadliest Catch, drawn by the ravings of my friends, and also the dilemma facing the show last year. It's probably the most "real" of any reality show, which continued to fuel my belief that I wasn't betraying my commitment to quality television.

Then, along came American Idol.

Drawn, initially, by the fact that EVERYONE I knew was watching it, I wanted to see what the big deal was. I caught the last few episodes of the year Adam Lambert finished second, and then, watched last year's show in its entirety, each week (I even posted about it last year!). While I find the early stages laughable (done primarily to make people both laugh and become invested in the contestants), I like the competitive angle that emerges. I'm finding Steven Tyler to be decent; but I was one who really enjoyed Simon's bluntness (and, it'll be interesting to see how this year progresses).

I could live with that as my reality diet, I think; but -- the last weekday I was home before starting my job, I started watching a Jersey Shore marathon, and -- much like a bad car accident -- found myself drawn to the show as well. Mind you, my own personality is nothing like those on the show; I think I find myself in awe that people actually function that way; but it's an interesting study on our population (and, of course, I posted about this show, as well, earlier this year).

I think I'm tapped out of reality shows now. I am watching American Idol again this year (and disappointingly, my favorite contestant from last year -- Charity Vance -- who was eliminated in the Hollywood Round, apparently met the same fate this year (based on spoiler lists leaked on the 'Net that detail which top 40 contestants advanced out of Hollywood Week)). Never mind that though, Charity seems to be doing JUST fine for herself (she has five songs on iTunes, and has been described as Katy Perry with her pop sensibilities; but with a better voice, better song creation and more introspection in her lyrics -- that's not a bad combination.

Here's one of her videos (I can't stop humming this song -- so advanced for an 18/19 year old). I'm reasonably sure she'll have a great, long career, even without American Idol on her resume.

(Sorry I've been posting far less than before, and -- even more damning, my recent posts have all been slightly less serious than I'd intended. I do have a lengthy, fairly serious post in the pipeline (probably the next one), and I may have another two posts, upcoming, with some semi-big announcements!)