Super Bowl Half Tme Music/Super Bowl Game

[ForeverAutumn]

Ha ha, Jar said "Milk this breast".

Hey, it took me a while to get it.

..."Now that's an utterly predictable reaction."

Oh you boys....all this fuss over a little breast. Now if you were in Canada, you would have seen the Canadian beer commercial with two women kissing.

Hmmm...I wonder what y'all would have had to say about that!

[DariusNYC]

One clarification on my earlier post, by the way: I'm not defending the Super Bowl Halftime Show; I thought it was pretty lame. I'm just making the rather less controversial statement that "Rhythm Nation", "Rock Your Body", "Hot in Herre" and "Mo' Money Mo' Problems" are quality toonage, at least in their original recorded versions.

I don't think I'm going too much out on a limb here. For example, Jackson's Rhythm Nation album was criticially drooled over when it originally came out, and it was a huge hit as well, and this was one of the biggest songs from that album (of course, that was, like 14 years ago or so which leads us to ask why they were focusing on that for a 2004 halftime show, but that doesn't take away from the quality of the recording itself, nor does the weak, probably lip-synced performance). Similarly, the other three songs were wildly popular (although only one, "Rock Your Body", was from 2003) with major crossover appeal in different demographics. If I remember correctly, "Rock Your Body" by the hated Justin Timberlake placed quite high in sacred Pitchfork's Best Singles of 2003 list, for all you alterno-folks who follow Pitchfork. Timberlake's album was quite well-reviewed and placed on several critics' year end best-of lists, and of course it was a huge seller as well. Personally, I think the updated Michael Jackson-style groove on that song is one of the catchiest things I've heard all year (of course, you couldn't tell that one way or another from the little snippet that was played during the Super Bowl). I don't actually have the official lowdown on Nelly's "Hot in Herre" from our nation's blessed critics, but I'm sorry, if you don't find that song enjoyable you should check for the tag on your toe (again, they only played a little snippet of it at the show, so if you didn't like it or know it beforehand the halftime show wouldn't have won you over). I also don't have any objective way of defending "Mo' Money Mo' Problems", except by referencing the fact that it was a huge hit, but a lot of awful songs are huge hits, I know. I do know that all my friends at the Super Bowl Party (I think we were a younger group than that attending most of your Super Bowl parties) were grooving just as much as I was when that number came on. Again, I just think it's a groovy groovy song, with good low key rapping on the verses and of course that catchy chorus.

My point is not that any of what I said should convince everyone, but just that I'm not making some wild out-there statement, just that certain songs that happen to be incrediblly popular that were played during the Super Bowl Halftime show also happen, cooncidentally I'm sure, not to suck. Good pop should be celebrated and defended because there is so much bad pop out there, and good pop brings folks together and is the opposite of elitist or exclusionary; it unites demographics. One nation under a groove y'all. That's why a song like R. Kelly's "Ignition Remix" or Outkast's "Hey Ya!" is worth more to me than the entire Shalabi Effect or Microphones catalog.

But no, I'm not defending the Super Bowl halftime show per se. Couldn't they allow someone to actually perform a song and finish it, for example? Maybe they could've actually got some life out of one of these performers.

(Oh, did I mention that Kid Rock rules? Sorry again, guys!)

[Slosh]

..."Now that's an utterly predictable reaction."

Oh you boys....all this fuss over a little breast. Now if you were in Canada, you would have seen the Canadian beer commercial with two women kissing.

Hmmm...I wonder what y'all would have had to say about that!

I almost wrote udderly but decided not to dumb it down

~Slosh - I get jokes!

[Jim Clark]

..."Now that's an utterly predictable reaction."

Oh you boys....all this fuss over a little breast. Now if you were in Canada, you would have seen the Canadian beer commercial with two women kissing.

Hmmm...I wonder what y'all would have had to say about that!

that might not be quite as titillating.

jc

-hope that one hasn't been used-

[jack70]

Yeah... it's true... often the best team doesn't get to win the title. It's why sports is so exciting. The all-time example of that is NC State winning the NC in hoops... they wouldn't have even made the cut for the final top-48 seeding if they hadn't won 3 in a row for the ACC title and the automatic berth... and they gave us the greatest, most exciting ride of any hoops champion ever.

This really WAS a Cinderella-season for the Pats... how often do teams win so many close games? Yeah, it would'a been very tough for the Pats to swallow a loss because of a few errors, after playing so well (better overall). But the same thing happened in their AFC-Champ win over the Colts... they dominated Manning and their running game, yet the Colts were still within striking distance till the very end. It's partly because every team that gets this far is really good... you rarely see a team get shut-out badly unless they ALL get up with their bio-rhythms out of sync (Colts over Denver).

People talk about the Dolphins 17 game streak, but the Pats played something like 11 games against teams with winning records.. a much harder road than Miami did. BTW, they also won all 4 pre-season games (usually a bad sign for the season).

Makes you wonder how serendipitous Drew Bledsoe's injury against the Jets was 3 years ago... who knows how different things would be if that never happened. I also want to say that most of the Pats are a bunch of great guys off the field... many like Richard Seymore are on weekly interview shows and are really terrific guys. Brady as well... all the accolades haven't swelled his head... he has his ego under control. It's really refreshing in today's world of celebrity-ego-idiots.

I just wish their fans knew how to celebrate a nationaL championship like our Tiger fans down here in beautiful (well, sort of) Baton Rouge. I guess we're more of a group of friendly drunks.

I think it would'a been a lot worse if it hadn't been below freezing here for the past month. God knows what will happen if the Sox ever win it all...LOL. I don't understand it myself... but that behavior sort of echoes what we were all reflecting on with the media becoming dumbed-down and overly-sexual over the past decades. Stuff that wouldn't have been accepted decades ago is now commonplace. Maybe it's just a cycle-ish thing for the culture... or maybe it'll get worse in the future.


As for sit-coms like Friends, It's partly because I've watched stuff like Gleason's Honeymooners and All in the Family, and find most of today's shows poorly written, if not total rehashes of plotlines which are already 10'th-generation copies. The only sitcom I've even watched in the last 20 years is Seinfeld, and only occasionally. At least they tried to be a little different there, and although they often struck out, they also often hit some home runs. I just found the characters in Friends to be hollow, with no positive redeeming values... something you got with Gleason, Andy Griffith, & even the much-maligned Beaver. I watch my share of junk-TV too, but my main "complaint" is that too many Kids watch it, and get the idea it must be good. Shakespeare is good... and there are lots of great old movies and TV shows... and I wonder if too much 2'nd-rate fare will kill/stunt kid's appreciation (and seeking out) of truly rich film & literature. But I'm getting into R. Pirsig philosophical territory here, so I'll leave it at that...LOL.

TV is essentially a "public" venue... one we all own, at least in principle, and it should be held to a different dynamic than something you have to seek out or pay for (extreme violence and extreme sexist fare). If all parents were GOOD parents: wise, and who talked about these things all the time, I wouldn't be so concerned... but too many parents aren't even up to the task of raising a pet, let alone a human being. The schools can't make up for such parents abrogations, although occasionally a special teacher or coach can save such kids.

...I'd rather watch bombs explode on the History channel

Did you catch any of their recent 4-part/4-hr shows on The Barbarians? (Viking's, Huns, Goths and Mongols)... pretty good historical re-enactments if you're into history at all. I also enjoy American Chopper on the Discovery Channel.... mixes art and mechanics (motorcycle design) in a pretty cool reality-type show (I've NEVER watched any of the "real" reality shows). The family dynamics there are typical of what I & my friends grew up with, and I think many guys can appreciate that interplay there. BTW, their Superbowl commercials were better than most of the others.

[nobody]

I always think the way we as a society in the US have no problem with violence, but are deathly afraid of sex is pretty funny. I remember when I worked in a video store. You'd get parents coming in with little kids and picking out the most brutally violent things they could find, action, sci-fi, and war movies the kids wanted to see, without a second thought. Then the dad would come up with one, get all serious and ask, "there isn't any nudity in this, is there?" Like, marinating your kids brain in mindless violence from age 3 up is OK, but god forbid he see a female breast. I was always fairly shocked to see how common such attitudes were.

Oh...and I still think Miss Jackson's hot.

[Dusty Chalk]

I always think the way we as a society in the US have no problem with violence, but are deathly afraid of sex is pretty funny. I remember when I worked in a video store. You'd get parents coming in with little kids and picking out the most brutally violent things they could find, action, sci-fi, and war movies the kids wanted to see, without a second thought. Then the dad would come up with one, get all serious and ask, "there isn't any nudity in this, is there?" Like, marinating your kids brain in mindless violence from age 3 up is OK, but god forbid he see a female breast. I was always fairly shocked to see how common such attitudes were.

Thank you. I was just trying to say this aim thing on another forum. Like they haven't seen a booby before. What do you think they grew up on, bottles? And like there's anything wrong with seeing a booby. I think parents just get embarassed and don't want to talk about it, that's why they don't want their kids to see it.

I mean, you know cigarettes leads to marijuana, and marijuana leads to harder drugs, right? What the L does seeing a breast lead up to? Having sex? Becoming a pervert? Remaining heterosexual? I can think of worse destinies in life...

[Jim Clark]

Thank you. I was just trying to say this thing on another forum. Like they haven't seen a booby before. What do you think they grew up on, bottles? And like there's anything wrong with seeing a booby. I think parents just get embarassed and don't want to talk about it, that's why they don't want their kids to see it.

I mean, you know cigarettes leads to marijuana, and marijuana leads to harder drugs, right? What the L does seeing a breast lead up to? Having sex? Becoming a pervert? Remaining heterosexual? I can think of worse destinies in life...

Some of you guys are defintely speaking like a bunch of folks without kids. No seeing a breast isn't as dreadful as some want to make it out to be, but...

A couple of things are important here, like rules for starters. There are rules (laws) governing broadcasts. I guess some people aren't required to follow the rules that are layed down? Is that the message we want our kids to learn? Celebrity gives you certain privledges but it shouldn't be extended to a license to break whatever rules and regulations govern our society.

Futhermore, you might think that sending a message that it's ok to rip off a womens shirt whenever the mood hits is all in fun or even ok, but many of us do not. That, and much worse happens everyday but I don't see how glorifying it in front of a national audience can be a good thing. People can say whatever they want about the incident but it boils down to a glorification of violence against women. THAT is what many people are upset about. Had she bared her own breast that would be one thing but that wasn't the situation at all. Yeah, I know she was in on it, but that doesn't really change anything relevant to my point.

Rev. jc

[MindGoneHaywire]

Not for nothing, Jim, but a lot of the arguments to the contrary of yr position make quite a lot of sense--i.e. this is silly, what's the big deal, etc. etc. And I have to agree with a lot of them. But when I heard about this--I wasn't watching at the time & unless one was totally concentrating on it it wouldn't seem as though you would've actually caught what happened--I did happen to think about my nephews. And by extension about kids in general.The issue is just a little more complicated than 'what's the big deal?' Maybe it's not a big deal for a kid to see some sweater meat, ha ha. I don't think it's going to corrupt any kids that wouldn't be corruptible in other ways by other forces. But I don't think it's right, either; it was just a little too much. My 7-year-old nephew shouldn't have to have this explained to him at his age. Will he live? Of course. But parents today didn't have grow up dealing with this sort of thing, for the most part, so there is a bit of a culture shock involved. It'd sure be nice if this wasn't an issue, but unfortunately it is. You're right, a lot of these correct & well-meaning opinions are coming from people who aren't parents, & I'm one of 'em. But I definitely see yr side here.

[jack70]

I always think the way we as a society in the US have no problem with violence, but are deathly afraid of sex is pretty funny.

I agree with most of your sentiments... the fact we tend have a "problem" with sex in this a country can indeed be tiring at times... but I think the thing many people are getting more & more upset (fed-up) with is larger than this one thing... it's a more general thinking that our culture is becoming coarser... that we're defining deviancy down.

I agree that violence can be harmful at certain ages too, although there's a big difference between watching violence and experiencing it... it's real violence where kids get their minds f__ked up. And the fact you saw some idiot parents UNconcerned about video violence for their kids doesn't mean MOST parents aren't concerned about such violence, which is worse in movies & games than 20-40 years ago. Many parents have gotten TVs out of their houses completely, and most ARE very concerned about what their kids see, especially pre-10 year olds. (that's my personal observation).

Many parents get justifiably upset when they lose the hearts & minds of their kids to outside forces. Some of it may be their own fault, but I can see their point too, especially when parents aren't even aware of lots of the stuff their kids can get caught up with when out of their direct care. Does an 8 year-old have the knowledge or will to make an informed decision when he's offered drugs, or cheap inhalants (far worse than drugs), or sexual activity? It's the same battle for kid's minds we're talking about here, and parents see the tide going in the wrong direction (cruder accepted public behavior), and it ticks 'em off.

...What the L does seeing a breast lead up to? Having sex? Becoming a pervert? Remaining heterosexual? I can think of worse destinies in life...

Here's the issue Dusty... it's not the issue of the nudity so much, but the assault-type behavior (ripping a chick's bra off) that reinforces the attitude that it's OK to do that to chicks. The fact that lots of young kids saw that, and kids tend to act out this sort of thing, means you're going to see cruder behavior among kids (who don't know better). And it's even confusing to kids whose parents are saying something else. Tell me, would it be OK if they showed hard-core sexual acts there? How about bestiality? Where do you draw the line? That's the issue here (the line)... and the fact that parents want to make that decision, not outside forces. Is it OK to make crack addicts appear as if they're cool to kids... or show people shooting pets as sick "fun", or other such fare that requires an adult's fully formed conscience to fully understand. It's a public show in primetime and that should require a different standard than other venues... that's all.

...anyway, it was frickin' great game!!!

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Wuss before the game = Josh Groban. Non offensive, but a tad too smarmy. But OK for the type material he sang. I hate Barry Manilow BTW. Groban gets decent reviews for his voice and debut album. Its nowhere near my buy list, either new or garage sale priced used. I believe he got his real commercial start on an episode of Ally McBeal a few years back. Just thought I'd throw that tidbit in.

My wife has Groban's debut album, doesn't seem to me that the Manilow-like reference is correct. He's more a pop-opera (Popera?) style artist, along the lines of Andrea Bocelli. Not my cup-o-tea, but not B. Manilow either.

[Dusty Chalk]

Alright, I hadn't thought about the guy-ripping-the-gal's-top-off aspect of it (this is the first time that it was brought up to me), and I do agree that that's a bad example to be setting for the kids. Despicable behavior.

[Jefferson]

Hey, I want my cut!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/doc_o_day.html