First, let me note that taunting your blogmistress when she’s in emotional extremis is both ungentlemanly and unladylike and a quick ticket to outer darkness. But, congratulations to the Giants, who just played a superior game of football tonight, and consistently outplayed us this season. And to Chris Ashley, who wins our pool, and gets to make me write about the piece of culture of his choice.
Off the field of play, which was tense and exciting, and I think missed being a truly great game because of some sloppiness on each side, this seemed like a rather slack event to me. There was no standout ad (though I thought Budweiser’s shoutout to rescue dogs was cute). GoDaddy has reached (or, really, reached several years ago) the same point as Lady Gaga where doing something demure would be more shocking than any way they could find to comment on the female performance. I do, however, appreciate anything that lets me see Det. John Munch dance:
and Clint Eastwood’s Obama ad. But overall, I thought it was a lackluster year.
Madonna’s performance was, I thought, both a display of professional showmanship and a reasonably canny nod to the straight dude demographic once it shifted from chariot bearers to cheerleaders. And how great is it to get to see a woman do the greatest hits show that white dude rockers are regularly entitled to without comment on their age or creakiness? Nary a crotch-slam into the camera for the Queen of Pop:
I also think of all the judges from The Voice NBC could have brought out for the show, Cee Lo Green was the best and most gratifying choice. He’s a great fit for the gospel riff, and it’s so much fun to get him to see him dust off and re-sequin his “Closet Freak” robes:
Sometimes, the right people get to make the big money and stand under the bright lights.
Update
People apparently want to know if I have thoughts on M.I.A. flipping the bird at the end of her verse. So here they are: I think it’s exactly the kind of bland, predictable, wannabe-controversial-but-utterly-predictable-and-meaning-free thing she would do, and as such, essentially unworthy of notice or comment.
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