Raise the Roof!

In case anyone reading this is wondering, I did in fact make it through the Super Bowl in one piece. I begged off the big beer blast and went to my Sister-in-law's house. Whoop whoop, raise the roof, right? Meh. I'd much rather go to her place, with only a half-dozen people, all of whom I know and like very much, instead of pretending to enjoy a bunch of hipster doucheketeers and their Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Do other people like their in-laws? I do. I actually enjoy spending time with damn near every one of them, even the Christians, as they're the type of Christian that doesn't need to mention Jesus every 13 seconds. If TV comedians are to be believed, though, nobody likes their in-laws, so I must be doing something wrong. I need to start picking fights with them or something.

The game itself was entertaining - the Niners lost, which is a bummer, but they came back from a huge deficit to make it very interesting. None of us had a major rooting interest in the game, however, and the others seemed to be more interested in the ads, something I simply cannot understand. The fact that advertisers have somehow implanted into the American consciousness the idea that the COMMERCIALS they show during the biggest sporting event of the year are an event unto themselves is appalling.

There is no such thing as a "good" commercial. There are all types of ads - moving, funny, technically accomplished, whatever adjective you can think of. But I draw the line at "good." They are all specifically calculated to make me spend my money by manipulating my emotions, and I just can't have that. How anyone can watch this advertisement for Dodge without getting furious is beyond me. On the face of it, it's a very moving, if annoyingly religion-based, tribute to farmers. Now, farming is a truly noble profession, and I respect a farmer just as much as I respect a teacher or a firefighter. But all Dodge is doing is trying to trick me into buying a Dodge. See, they really CARE about farmers. And farmers need big strong trucks. And not just farmers, but all real men. Just look at all those bales of hay and loads of wood they're loading up into their Dodge Ram! Dodge trucks are clearly for very strong, dedicated, American MEN. If they could do it without having hell rain down on them, there is not one tiny doubt in my mind that they would overtly state that the local Ford assembly line is nothing but a buncha queers, or some other fucked up horseshit.

And yet, I can't help but admire how rugged those trucks look...