The Super Bowl According to Kathleen: Favorite Commercials

Last night Husband made me watch the Super Bowl. I had assumed that since his team had already been eliminated that we'd be fast-forwarding through most of the game and watching the commercials. So imagine my horror when I realized at one point that Husband had gone to the bathroom and PAUSED THE GAME!

I knew I was in for a long night. Luckily being the resourceful little blogger that I am, I thought I'd take the four hours of time between commercials that I apparently now had on my hands to write about my favorite commercials of the evening.

First Half:

Bridgestone Tires, "Reply All" -- Best Commercial of the First Half

Video courtesy of wish.

This was the first commercial of the night that caused me to actually laugh out loud. This commercial was a success for a few reasons: first, everyone is familiar with that horror of thinking you sent out an email to the wrong person and second, the physical comedy of this guy knocking over the pot of coffee onto the laptop and wrestling the phone out of the hands of the hiker. Then at the end we have the famous "switch-a-roo" of which I'm always a fan! Good work, Bridgestone Tires!

CareerBuilder, "Working With Monkeys"

Video courtesy of CareerBuilder.

You can't go wrong when you include monkeys. That's basically my motto. This commercial made me giggle, but would have been even funnier with more monkey screen time. Strong effort, CareerBuilder, but take note for next year: More monkeys = Happier Kathleen

Volkswagen, "The Force"

Video courtesy of Volkswagen.

Another completely manipulative and exploitative ad featuring a tiny child dressed in a Darth Vader costume. I was already boarding on cute overload before the lil' Vader turned on the car with his powers only to startle himself. Not sure what this has to do with Volkswagen, but it sure was adorable!

Half Time Show:

Now I happen to enjoy the Black Eyed Peas myself. And I have to say, I was pleased when I heard that the Super Bowl had finally gotten brave enough to ask a more current musical artist to perform the half time show. I don't think I'm alone when I say that The Who's performance last year was near embarrassing.

At first I was a little annoyed at the synchronized clapping of the folks on the field. Hm, where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, Queen at Live Aid more than 25 years ago...and that wasn't choreographed.

But then the suits lit up and the choreographed dancing continued (culminating in an awesome quadruple arrow formation and ultimately with enormous red hearts) and at that point I decided that I approved of the shenanigans.

I was glad when Slash actually showed up to perform Sweet Child O' Mine because otherwise that would have been a really random song choice, but was Fergie trying to sing like Axl Rose or did she just develop a bit of a frog in her throat for that song only? Despite Slash's appearance, I'd say that was the weakest song of the set.

Overall, I thought the show was pretty good. I liked how they played snippets of a bunch of different songs instead of playing only three or four songs in their entirety. I remember a few years ago being so annoyed when Bruce Springsteen played 10th Avenue Freezeout, NOT one of my favorites, and I had to just suffer through it for five minutes. Blah. The Black Eyed Peas were slightly reminiscent of Prince, who was one of the best half time shows ever (in the rain no less) so they were definitely operating out of the "Make Kathleen Happy Playbook".

The only thing that could have made the show better? A monkey.

Well played, Black Eyed Peas!

Second Half:

E*Trade, "Talking Baby"

Video courtesy of ZPsBackUp.

Boy this has been a polarizing ad campaign. Ever since it was first introduced a few years back, people either love or hate these "talking" babies. Personally I'm a fan, which is odd because typically posed babies freak me out (Exhibit A. I'm sorry but just because you can stuff your baby into a watering can doesn't mean you should.) Anyway, despite this aversion to the use of babies, these ads really make me giggle. This one in particular was completely adorable at the end when the baby puts his finger to the tailor's mouth and says, "Shush." Love it!

House M.D., Fox - Best Commercial of the Second Half

Video courtesy of MsHousefan1.

Now, I divorced House last season. I'd watch every week and get annoyed at every single character. Finally, I told Husband that I had gotten to the point where the only character on the show I actually liked was House...and that made me feel really rotten about myself...so I wasn't going to watch anymore. This commercial though, was freakin' funny. A parody of the famous Mean Joe Green commercial from the late 1970s, House first refuses a churro from a young admirer then tosses his cane to the boy...knocking him over. Oh House, good work: take something we all know and love and give it the old "switch-a-roo". It's almost enough to convince me to start watching again!


Most Random (i.e. Awesome) Celebrity Cameo of the Night: Kenny G in Audi ad

If you know anything about me, you know that I love a good random celebrity cameo. I'm not talking about Adrian Brody in a Stella Artois ad. Or even Justin Bieber in a Best Buy ad. I'm talking about a 100% completely out of left field, random-ass celebrity. One of my favorite Super Bowl commercials EVER is this Emerald Nuts spot featuring Robert Goulet. This Audi ad had potential. Watching the two wealthy prisoners try to escape was pretty funny, but it could have been an ad for anything, nothing about it was specific to an Audi car. The Kenny G music was an unexpected choice, but the man himself serenading a prisoner at the end of the ad was the best moment. Sadly, afterwards I thought about how I should consider buying a Kenny G CD not an Audi car. Better luck next year, Audi.

WTF Moment: Eminem in Lipton Brisk Iced Tea ad and Chrysler ad

In the Brisk Iced Tea ad, which aired first, Eminem (in voice over) talks about getting asked to do so many ads, but then he ends up hating the product and refuses, but he really loves Lipton Brisk Iced Tea so he was happy to do the ad. Then during the third quarter, Eminem showed up in an ad for Chrysler automobiles.

Um, Eminem, not to be a brat, but did you tell the Lipton folks that you had actually agreed to do another commercial FOR THE SUPER BOWL? If I were the Lipton people, I'd be pretty annoyed! Do you think we're that stupid? That we forget that you're in two Super Bowl ads, one of which is claiming that you don't do lots of ads. Did you assume that because you're animated in one somehow we wouldn't realize it was you? Both of the ads were actually pretty good, but all I'm saying is you've got some 'xplaining to do, Eminem!

Worst Campaign of the Night: Pepsi Max

I'm not entirely sure why the folks over at Pepsi thought it would be funny to build an entire marketing campaign around people using Pepsi Max cans to assault each other, but I was not amused. In the first slot,  a woman throws her can at her husband after he checks out an attractive runner. He ducks and the runner gets knocked out. In the second ad, a nerd uses a Pepsi Max cooler launcher to shoot cans at the groin of a man who had previously been teasing him. The point of the first two commercials was to emphasize that Pepsi Max has no calories, but I'm sure there are ways to make that point beyond throwing cans at people.* Clearly, Pepsi Max felt the same way because the third ad abandoned the idea completely: this time featuring a couple on a first date with the young man's desire to sleep with his companion is interrupted only by his wanting her can of Pepsi Max. All I can say is that at least the first two ads had a semblance of a point. Complete miss, Pepsi Max. Try again next year (if you're even still around).

*Lest any of you think me a hypocrite, allow me to distinguish between why I found the Pepsi Max commercials upsetting, yet enjoyed the House commercial where he throws his cane at the young child. In the House commercial, House isn't trying to hit the kid with the cane. He's trying to be inspirational and toss the young admirer a souvenir. That, in addition to the familiarity we all have with the original commercial, is what makes this ad funny. The Pepsi Max ads are just mean.

The good news is that I made it through the entire game and that it ended before 10:30pm! The fourth quarter just flew by because I spent it scouring the Internet for the House ad. Usually the fourth quarter just crawls by so that was exciting!

Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers for winning the 45th Super Bowl. Enjoy my kind words now, boys, because I can assure you that by this evening, I will have forgotten who was even playing.

What were your favorite commercials? Do you agree with my picks?

Happy Monday!

Queen Song of the Week: Say It's Not True

In 2005, Dr. May and RT teamed up with Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company and Free) for a world tour. In 2008, they released a brand spankin' new studio album The Cosmos Rocks. While the Queen + Paul Rodgers tours in 2005 and 2008 were well received by fans, the album is considered by many to be a disaster of gargantuan proportions. Personally, I don't own it and I've only heard a few songs off it so I'll reserve judgment. The studio version of Say It's Not True appears on The Cosmos Rocks.

The version of Say It's Not True that's on The Cosmos Rocks is nice enough; however, my favorite version of the song is this one which is available on Queen: Return of the Champions, a live album from 2005.



What's the difference?

The studio version of the song from 2008 features RT, Dr. May, and Paul Rodgers sharing lead vocals: they each sing a verse. The live version from Return of the Champions features RT on lead vocals for the entire song. The latter version is also acoustic and more poignant than the former version which gets really heavy at the end. Lyrically, this is one of RT's strongest songs. Like in Man on Fire (reviewed here), he uses a metaphor and I really wish he'd attempt this more often because he truly excels at it. The tune of the song can be a bit monotonous, but I think RT does a good job of alternating the end notes to mix it up a bit. RT appears to enjoy singing this one live too because he sang it solo at the Band du Lac concert (see here for his performance and see here to purchase the Blu Ray).

RT originally wrote the song for Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS so obviously the subject matter is something near and dear to his heart. I think the tone of the song is better suited to his voice and he hits some rather lovely high notes in the live version of the song. You can also see he's getting a bit emotional at the last line ("Could be happening to you. Could be happening to me.")

In one of Husband's frequent rants about how he thinks RT takes himself so seriously, I tried to tell Husband that RT actually does some serious charitable work and isn't just all talk (or all lyrics, as the case may be). In response, Husband spat out, "Who does he think he is? Nelson Mandela?" To which I squealed, "Yes! He works with Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign!"

I decided to feature Say It's Not True today because Sunday July 18 is Mandela Day 2010, a global initiative proposed by 46664 and the Nelson Mandela Foundation as a day to honour and celebrate Nelson Mandela and his legacy. Nelson Mandela Day includes a series of events involving interactive art, entertainment, music, film, educational outreach and community service with the hope of inspiring people around the globe to embrace their individual power to make an imprint and help change the world around them for the better. (This is taken straight from the 46664 website which I've linked at the bottom of the post).

RT wrote this song for Mandela Day in 2005. He and Dr. May then rerecorded it with Paul Rodgers for The Cosmos Rocks, but made the song available for free download on the 46664 website. Eventually they decided to release the song as a single and donate all the profits to 46664.

RT and Dr. May's work with 46664 isn't their first foray into charitable work. Following Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, they (along with John Deacon, long time Queen manager Jim Beach, and Freddie Mercury's long time friend Mary Austin) established the Mercury Phoenix Trust as a vehicle to distribute the money raised during the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (see here to purchase and here to view the most famous bit, George Michael singing Somebody to Love). The Trust has continued to raise money over the past two decades and has a number of projects currently in the works. In 1995, RT, Dr. May, and John Deacon donated profits from the studio album Made in Heaven to the Trust.

For more information about the Mercury Phoenix Trust, visit their official web page here.

For more information about Nelson Mandela's 46664 Campaign, visit the official web page here.

Happy Listening!

And Happy Mandela Day 2010!

Mally Make-up Review

I used my new Mally make-up kit yesterday morning and figured I'd write out a quick review.

The sampler kit I got is no longer available on the website. I'm not surprised it sold out. They were pushing it really heavily all weekend and seriously for $25, how could I not order it? "Very easily," my husband would say. Be quiet, you!

The kit contains: a mini-mascara, a mini-lipgloss, a mini-eyepencil, and a full sized dual eye compact.

First impressions? The eye compact is nice. It has a nice wide mirror that I can actually see a good portion of my face in. The mini sizes are relatively big. It all came packaged in a pretty pink box (which I'm a sucker for). I'm definitely pleased with the amount of make-up I got for under $30 (remember I did pay like $5 shipping - bah!)

So here I am without any make-up on:

Here I am with my Mally make-up on - please ignore the hair towel. My hair insists that I follow a really specific series of steps when I'm styling it each morning and even photos being posted online cannot deviate from that process:

The eyeliner was really nice. It literally melted onto my eyelid. No tugging or pulling at all. The shade is midnight which is a really dark blue. Normally I stick to traditional browns and blacks with eyeliners, but this isn't totally outrageous so I can deal with it. There was a minor moment of panic initially when I couldn't get the top off, but I finally gave it a little bit of a twist and it slide right off. Crisis averted.

The eye primer and eye shadow seem nice. They are nice big sizes and I really like the compact they come in. I didn't have to use much of either product so I can see this lasting a long time. I can't remember the last time I only used one eye shadow though so I couldn't stop myself from doing a little bit of highlighter (this in Sugar Sugar) along my brow bone and in my tear ducts. Mally sells a product that does similiar highlighting so I'm sure she would approve.

The mascara is really nice. Mally claims that she used to spend hours recreating this look before she invented this mascara. Now, I don't know if I buy that, but I will say that the mascara made my lashes (which are already relatively dark and thick) look pretty darn good. I also didn't have any issues with the mascara clumping off during the day and rendering me blind (which frequently happens when I wear mascara and is one of the reasons why I rarely wear it).

The lipstick is a nice muted pink shade and smells really tasty (I can't put my finger on exactly what it is though). The applicator is a pointed brush so you can use it to line your lips and then fill in the color. I liked the color on but it does tend to come off relatively quickly. By lunch I had already reapplied three times. I guess with a larger size, I wouldn't mind so much but with this mini, I was afraid that the lipstick would be gone at the end of one day! It's still a cute size and a nice color so I'll keep it in my make-up bag for mid-afternoon touch-ups.

So writing the last section about the lipstick coming off made me wonder - what about the rest of the make-up? Mally famously puts eyeliner on her hand and then rubs it furiously, claiming that it won't come off until you take it off. We'll see about that.

This picture was taken at the end of the day. The mascara held up really well (and didn't get in my eye once all day!). The shadow is still there but is covered up by the enormous smear across my eyelid that was my eyeliner. Now, I will admit that I am traditionally very heavy handed with eyeliner and this happens to me pretty much every day. I note, however, that more actual liner appears to have stayed where I put it than usual so that's a good thing. On my next attempt, I'm going to have to use a lighter touch to apply this stuff lest it end up all over my face by the end of the day.

Overall impression? It's a cute kit which I'll definitely keep. If I was a regular mascara user, I'd definitely pick up a full size (and I might become a regular mascara user after today's experience!) I'll probably pass on Mally lipsticks unless she comes up with a longer lasting formula. Eyeliner and shadow are something I could really see myself interested in. I'll give it a few more days of use will determine if I'm ready to make a bigger investment when my current Clinique shades run out.

I intend to spend the morning playing with my new Anthro purchases. If I can't make them into three outfits, they are going back. Last night I had a dream that I returned the cardigan and I wasn't too torn up about that so we'll see how this all plays out.