It's the Monday after the Super Bowl, America's unofficial holiday. Everyone's trudging to school/work with a hang over. The Saints took it to the Colts 31-17. Amazing game all the way around.

I kept my motto for the last two weeks the same whenever I was asked who I thought would win, "My brain says Colts, but my heart says Saints."

I guess this means I should listen to my heart more often. Some of my best (and worst) decisions have been made that way.

But let's not make this about me.

Yesterday was about the city of New Orleans... and the commercials.

Seriously, this is probably the weakest class of Super Bowl Ads in the past decade. There weren't that many that got me to think "wow, that was a good $3 million to spend."

But one company got it right throughout the game: Doritos.



This one was good, though I don't totally get the whole point of stuffing a casket full of Doritos and NOT having a drink to go with it. They missed out on a joint venture with Pepsi for that commercial...



Kinda funny, though, if that ever happened to me... no, wait, that'd never happen to me because the cardinal rule is to never date a chick with a kid. Moving on...



This one was really good. I chuckled a bit. A Dorito samurai... yes, destroy the Japanese culture with snack food muahaha haha haaaaa!!!

Ok,
then, there's the one that literally made me laugh out loud:



Freaking hilarious. Doritos my 2010 Super Bowl Ad winner.

Runner-ups:

The Fiddling Beaver...yes, fiddling... beaver...



And probably the best commercial of the Super Bowl, but sadly the only one of the brand:

No, I am not happy with you.

Just like Haloscan you're turning into useless corporate drones.

No more FTP blogs, just your "custom domain" program.

Which, I won't lie, is useless. Why would I create my own domain name and want to keep it hosted on your space?

That defeats the purpose of going out and getting your own domain name.

But I guess this was inevitable that you'd go turn coat on me. Just like former commenting systems, game developers and Joe Lieberman.

It's okay I guess, you're going to stop this by March? I guess that just accelerates my move to a Wordpress blog.

Congrats on alienating me. The person who resisted WP even when everyone else was switching over.

You've basically taken away my paddle while I'm on shit creek.

Looks like I'm gonna be getting on this transition/redesign project quicker than I thought.

[ Shaz ]
     g'nights Butterheart

Michael
     . . . i'm imagining myself as mel gibson, fighting against the english margarine

[ Shaz ]
     is like Braveheart, but fattening

Michael
     and fighting off Fabio and his butter substitute

[ Shaz ]
     across the sea of shortening

Michael
     i can't believe it's not KA-CHAHHHH
     *dead*

[ Shaz ]
     XD BAHAHAHA

Michael
     i know. we gotta put this into production.

Democracy at work.

Honestly, where's the money going?

It costs more and more to get an education. It appears that our local governments aren't going to be doing anything to help alleviate these gigantic expenses.

The mere fact that we're in such an era where everyone has put their entire financial future on some company's credit card and interest rate is absurd.

To make my point is the case and point at hand.

We're so desperate to be covering what we've already spent. We spent all that extra money to open all these extra schools, to ensure that the next generation of America has an opportunity to succeed and continue to further this country's innovation and imagination... to continue the "American Dream" if you will.

But the main reason this story caught my eye is this couple of paragraphs:

During the long overnight session, there was anger and there was theater. Two parents broke out sock puppets for their presentation. “Hi everyone, I’m a concerned parent,” said Jane Hirschmann, founder of the antitesting group Time Out From Testing, as she held up one puppet. “Hi,” replied Lisa Donlan of the Lower East Side, holding up another sock. “I am a puppet from the Panel for Educational Policy, and I brought my rubber stamp.”

Some of the hundreds of parents, teachers and students in the auditorium questioned the criteria the city used in making the decisions. Officials from the city teachers’ union said they planned to sue. Others said the city did not provide enough support to the large high schools. A study released Monday by the city’s Independent Budget Office affirmed that schools on the closing list faced unusually difficult challenges posed by their demographics and performed poorly on school progress reports.

Yes, the best way to get your point across to our government leaders are sock puppets.

Jim Henson is totally rolling in his grave right now.

Woman: Is there a problem, Officer?

Traffic Cop: Yes ma'am, I'm afraid you were speeding.

Woman: Oh, I see.

Traffic Cop: Can I see your license please?

Woman: Well, I would give it to you but I don't have one.

Traffic Cop: Don't have one?

Woman: No. I lost it 4 years ago for drunk driving.

Traffic Cop: I see...Can I see your vehicle registration papers please.

Woman: I can't do that.

Traffic Cop: Why not?

Woman: I stole this car.

Traffic Cop: Stole it?

Woman: Yes, and I killed and hacked up the owner.

Traffic Cop: You what!?

Woman: His body parts are in plastic bags in the trunk if you want to see.

The traffic cop looks at the woman and slowly backs away to his car while calling for back up. Within minutes 5 police cars circle the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.

Officer: Ma'am, could you step out of your vehicle please! The woman steps out of her vehicle.

Woman: Is there a problem sir?

Officer: My colleague here tells me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner.

Woman: Murdered the owner? Are you serious?!

Officer: Yes, could you please open the trunk of your car, please.

The woman opens the trunk, revealing that it's empty.

Officer: Is this your car, ma'am?

Woman: Yes, here are the registration papers. The traffic cop is quite stunned.

Officer: My colleague claims that you do not have a driving license.

The woman digs into her handbag and pulls a card out of a clutch purse and hands it to the officer. The officer examines the license quizzically.

Officer: Thank you ma'am, but I am puzzled, as I was told by my officer here that you didn't have a license, that you stole this car, and that you murdered and hacked up the owner!

Woman: Bet the lying son of a gun told you I was speeding, too.

to a fallen friend.

A man I never got to meet or interact with while I was not sitting behind a computer screen.

Yet, somehow, his life matters in a way to me that makes me feel like the world is a lesser place without him in it.

And it brings a tear to my eye.

That someone who fervently disagreed with me on almost every topic we stopped to talk about. Be it politics, industry, life, love, or just gaming.

Someone who would be just as stubborn and just as witty as I. Someone who would leave a path of d-e-struction from place to place.

Someone who I admired at first for that quality. Someone who, when I had worked so hard to be able to wear a tag near my name for so long, broke away. I followed. This is the type of person he was. He had a realness to his personality that transcended the fact that all we had was a voice server to communicate.

Someone who gave good advice, but only when specifically asked for it. That's a rare quality in a person, most people who dole out advice do it on a whim, hoping to be right with something in life. He didn't much care about being right. Or wrong. He cared about how you, or I, felt about a decision.

He was one of the few I talked to when I thought my personal life crashed. He was one of the few that told me waiting would not make it easier.

I still remember the nights of drinking in front of my computer and hopping into games where everyone knew each other. Everyone had some snippy remark and a joke at someone else's expense.

He was not above any of that. He was right in the middle of it. Even though I lost interest in the community which he built for himself, he still took time out to make sure I was okay. To make sure I didn't get off without a crude joke crossing my mast.

He still invited me to hang out with all the old timers who've been rarely seen over the past 3 years. I still vividly remember that night. Sitting in a conference webcam session, 12 of us, all of us drunk and all of us trash talking.

That will be my last memory of you. And I know that that memory is the one you want me to have.

Industry moguls now think that web revenue from advertising is not enough.

Fox News, the New York Times, and a plethora of others have decided to start charging for their online services in 2011.

I'm here to tell you why that's a bad idea and a dangerous precedent.

The internet is based, in most countries, on the precedence of easier communication. That was the original intent of the creation of the net: faster and easier communication with people further and further across the globe. To do so, we're charged a set amount (depends on what country you live in) to be able to access these means of internet communications; be it instant message, social network, or email.

We go to sites like the Times and gulp Fox to gather opinions and facts about the events of the day to share them via web communications.

Let's face it, without television and the internet we wouldn't have a clue about the reality and gravity of the earthquake in Haiti if all we knew about it was a picture and a few paragraphs in a newspaper.

There's more to it in these mediums. Yes, I said mediums; the proper pluralization is media, but we've changed the definition of media over the past decade.

I feel media is now synonymous with tabloids and crappy magazines that profile starlets and harlots. I don't care about those.

I care about mediums.

The mediums which you use to be part of the world and be in the know about how the government is screwing you out of your rights, how other governments are turning blind eyes to genocide and terrorism, and how you don't stand a chance in changing a damn thing from your couch.

How you've been sold the idea of freedom when all you do is live in a world of privilege.

You were given privilege with our public works system, our government's regulations of industry and their "standards."

You're given these based on the contingent that you educate yourself, you contribute to society and live by their rules.

Make no mistake, that is privilege and not freedom.

You stop paying your taxes; you don't stop at red lights; you don't tip your waitress; you're susceptible to lose those privileges.

A judge and any other writer will say you lose your freedom.

But aren't we at the point where we see through that idea anymore?

Hasn't the 8 years of George W Bush, the wars that've taken longer than those against the Germans and Japanese, the economic collapse and the effects of natural disasters [that will go unnamed] taught us anything about the world that we actually live in?

That we pledge and promise millions and millions in aid and compassion, but only deliver slivers of those numbers, of those promises?

Apparently those facts, those opinions, as dissenting and as mudslinging as many of those might be, the sad truth is, are all necessary to continue the continuity of our governing body.

The days when one side bends to the will of George Bush and later blames him for everything that's gone wrong and the days when the other side simply refuses to cooperate in the governing process, these are the days where the people who suffer are the nation's citizens.

Closing off ideas, opinions, facts, and truth are just other ways to spin your side of the story to those that will blindly believe what you say.

You, a giant in the medium in which you operate, are turning into nothing more than a catchy, niche based company; a tabloid.

Spreading nothing but crap about celebrities and trying desperately to interweave that tactic and style into politics.

Make no mistake, I'm not just talking about Fox News in this piece. I'm talking about you too New York Times Co.

Freedom isn't free. But I can always read about those that have died in it's name somewhere else. That's the beauty of the internet. Good luck on your endeavor to take that privilege from us.

Way to go Mr. Scott Brown.

Maybe.

Maybe it was just that the Democratic candidate for a seat that's been held by a Democrat for decades was a bitch and didn't deserve the seat?

I'll go with the latter.

Martha Coakley is an idiot.

Very simply put.

This election was gift wrapped for her to win, and she repeatedly shot herself in the foot feet leg head.

The sad part to all of this isn't her negligence to the campaigning process, it's the fact that she made it seem below her to do the things a campaigning politician must do to win.

So while she refused to shake peoples' hands outside of Fenway Park, refused to give public speeches and refused to tell any public or media talking point anything about her values, ideals, or plans; she lost.

For god's sake, she called Curt Schilling a Yankee lover!! She lost the election right there. The biggest stigma around Boston for almost 100 years was their inability to win the World Series. They finally do, on the back of that man. It's like if you called Obama a communist... er... wait, lemme see here; it's like if you called FDR athletic. Or Abe Lincoln a bigot. Or MLK a racist. It's just something you don't do.

So while she loses the big hubbub is that the Democrats are losing their majority and their power in the Senate... I'll hand it off to one of the few Jews to give good interviews...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mass Backwards
www.thedailyshow.com
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I sincerely hope you watched all of that.

I miss the sunset on the west coast.

There's nothing like it.

I even miss feeling like a sardine, packed onto the skytrain and struggling to stand.

I miss the hustle and bustle of the city. The concrete. The mass amounts of people.

I miss it. I really do. But if I could just change one thing about it, I wish they had better food.