February 07, 2005
I Got Nothing
Nothing to say this morning. Sorry about that - maybe later.
In the meantime, I will make one observation about yesterday's Super Bowl: The FCC does not fine broadcasters for lameness but if it did, Fox would have taken a bath on that half-time show. I'm talking statutory maximum. Half of me expected McCartney to break into "Band on the Run" and the other half expected Stevie Wonder to drop in for a rousing refrain of "Ebony & Ivory".
I'm hardly a pop-culture pushing-the-envelope kinda guy, but it seems to me the antidote to Nipplegate isn't to trot out a medley of 40-odd year old kareoke standards. Surely there's some happy middle ground?
YIPS from Steve: Absolutely. This is what happens when you let Velveeta, Helman's, and Dairy Queen in as your corporate sponsors.
I was half expecting him to break into "When I'm 64." Or, the perverse ending to the ultimate 1960s Reality Show "The Last Beatle Standing."
But what was the deal with Bubba and 41 hanging out together? Is it just me, or is Bubba telegraphing what he thinks as the direction of American politics into the near future, and sees the best way to secure his legacy is positioning himself for history as the moderate Republican interlude between Reagan and Dubya? Kind of the Nelson Rockefeller with BBQ presidency?
Posted by Robert at February 7, 2005 10:22 AMWhat, all that and no cracks about their matching sports jackets?
Posted by: Kathy at February 7, 2005 12:45 PMBubba knew there'd be tv cameras there, and lots of cheerleaders. I think they were there for the tsunami relief effort. And I'd prefer Paul over Janet as a musical entertainer any day. What's worrisome is that the Beatles have now gone from being the radical envelope pushers (long hair!) to safe comfort music. Is Janet going to be the halftime show 40 years from now, and recreate Wardrobe Malfunction? Shudder.
Posted by: Robert at February 7, 2005 01:27 PMMan, they weren't very effective at getting their message out apparently. The former Presidents were there to promote tsunami relief. You know, that thing the current President asked them to do together otherwise there's no way in hell they'd be seen together this often?
Posted by: jen at February 7, 2005 02:12 PMJen---That's my point. I think Bubba is trying to finesse a sort of Adams/Jefferson thing out of it and Bush 41 is both amused by it/too much of a gentleman to say boo.
Kath---Thanks: what was I thinking about that? Or, what the heck were they thinking? I almost expected the service academy choirs to cut into the theme from the Odd Couple.
Baby blue blazers should just be outlawed for any man who isn't actually an undergraduate at Cambridge, and even then should be open to ass-kicking.
But at least they didn't flip the coin.
Posted by: Steve the LB at February 7, 2005 03:53 PMbaby blue blazers... shiny baby blue blazers. I overheard someone mention that the Clintons and Bushes are related - some sort of cousin-connection somewhere.
Posted by: tee bee at February 7, 2005 05:07 PMFrankly, I saw this one coming. I mean, C'MON! I knew my "hip" days were over when I heard "Helter Skelter" as ELEVATOR MUSIC.
As for half-time: Geezsh. A rogue nipple flash would have been welcomed yesterday.
One final thought: I thought it was very "We Are The World" of GeeDub and Bubba start hanging out. But I still would LOVE to know how that lil' teleconference went down.
Posted by: Margi at February 7, 2005 05:25 PMSomebody was offended by the ads!
Posted by: Ed Flinn at February 7, 2005 08:51 PMRE: Halftime entertainment.
I confess I love McCartney. The man is a god of a tunesmith. Name one decent halftime show in recent memory. U2 was good in 2002, but they weren't the only performer (the others all fell way short). And in any case, is there such a thing as a good halftime show in the Super Bowl?
I posit that yesterday is as good as it is ever likely to get. I liked it. So there. Meh.
"What's worrisome is that the Beatles have now gone from being the radical envelope pushers (long hair!) to safe comfort music."
Man, that happened sometime in the mid-1960s.
What, don't you remember Dionne Warwick doing "A Hard Day's Night"? The Carpenters doing "Ticket to Ride"? Shirley Bassey and Engelbert Humperdinck each covering "Something"? Ray Stevens doing "Help"? Perry Como doing "Michelle"? Annette Funicello doing "All My Lovin" (nice rack though)? The Kingston Trio doing "Norweigan Wood"?
And as for the Beatles themselves, nothing too edgy about any of their solo stuff after about 1975. "Silly Love Songs"? "It Don't Come Easy"? "I Got My Mind Set On You"? "Starting Over"?
Come on: they were at times great songwriters and arrangers, but let's not go overboard with the "edgy" stuff.
Posted by: Alex at February 8, 2005 10:53 AMSomeone please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it McCartney and Michael Jackson who did "Ebony and Ivory". Now, That would have been a memorable half-time show! Perhaps they could have re-written it to "Ebony and Irony".
Posted by: azlibertarian at February 8, 2005 11:24 PM
