Wow, was that boring.
IDK.
I left three minutes to go, so I didn’t see the end but… man, did that suck.
I don’t know. Perhaps I shouldn’t complain because I only half watched it. Mostly, I spent the game sorting through and deleting old apps from my iPad. But it just didn’t seem like there was anything worth really watching this year. I mean, I didn’t see anything worth putting down my iPad for. At least, there wasn’t from my vantage point.
Not even the commercials were any good. Mostly, it was a bunch of commercials advertising TV shows, movies, and other generic things- the same commercials you see every day, really. I guess the hot dog / dachshund commercial was cute, and the Independence Day trailer was cool, but… there was nothing memorable this year. It wasn’t like it used to be.
Near the end of the game, I did take notice of how few commercials this year overtly referenced me. There were some, but not too many, which… is fine with me. I didn’t really care, TBH. I don’t want to be noticed so much these days. I’m kind of over that, I think. Perhaps I’m starting to value my privacy more as I get older.
It just seemed as though the life had been drained from everything. The players seemed… tired. They kept making mistakes. Even Manning seemed “off”, like he had been rattled by something, in spite of his incredible depth of experience. It was a weird game.
The half time show was OK. It did what it needed to do, I guess. Bruno did well, as did everyone else involved, but nothing really stood out about the performance- in spite of the fact that we had Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Beyonce on the same stage. Even that seemed rote and unfortunately by the numbers. And the opening acts- with America the Beautiful sung by the military choir and the Anthem sung by Gaga, were pretty good. Not great, not memorable, but pretty good. Nobody messed up any lyrics, thank goodness.
Thinking back on the experience, it seems as though everyone- the players, the commercial guys, the musicians, even the network itself, tried to play it very safe this year. It was all very… uncontroversial, and purposely so, which is perhaps the mood these days. The zeitgeist, I mean.
I think that ad people wanted to avoid doing anything different or unusual because whenever they do, there’s a huge backlash from somebody, whether it’s one of the protected classes or nativists, or somebody else that nobody knows is angry about something until they lash out for some reason. I did notice diversity in the commercials, but nothing that would get the conservatives riled up, like that old coke commercial. It was all kinda matter of fact. Like, here’s a gay person, here’s a black person, here’s a white person, here’s an Asian, etc.
I like watching the Super Bowl to take a survey of the nation’s zeitgeist. After watching this year, I think the country is… confused. And leaderless. And tired. And bored with everything.
There just doesn’t seem to be a strong, guiding hand anymore, and I think that people are just going through the motions, hoping to go unnoticed.
Regarding me and the commercials, IDK. Last year it was all about me, but this year it was as if I didn’t exist (or at least, it was that way for the commercials I watched. I did skip a bunch this time). Maybe I’m too angry myself for my own good. I think I’ve alienated some people but… IDK. I’m trying to save the country, even though nobody else will, or perhaps can. IDK. What do people want, really? I used to think they wanted a stable, prosperous future, but maybe not, or perhaps their version of that isn’t mine. I used to take it as a given that people wanted a strong, stable, crime free middle class, and that that should be everyone’s highest priority, but… IDK. Maybe it isn’t, or people think that they have a better way of getting there besides a gold standard and reduced immigration. They’re wrong, but… it’s an opinion, and everyone has a right to one.
Maybe I should have just stuck to showbiz, but when I see it heading for a brick wall, as it is today, I feel such a need to try to save it, somehow.
Or maybe I’ve just been not as interesting this year. Could be.
IDK.
Hmmmmmm… wow, there’s a lot of IDKs in this post. Maybe I was featured after all!
LOL.
Or maybe… they can’t incorporate me anymore. Not with things as they are now. The cutting edge these days is severely anti-establishment, and I to a large extent embody that, so how can the establishment capitalize on me and my current phase and ideas? They can’t. I mean, my “burn it all down” mentality can’t be captured and portrayed in Super Bowl commercials. I mean, not even ironically.
IDK. Maybe me not seeing me bothered me more than I knew. Perhaps I should have paid more attention.
I’ll see how things are next year, maybe.