And some will watch commercials

Friday, the popular dude, has stopped by again.  He's dripping a bit, just enough to spray wet road film up against windshields, and wearing monochromatic grey, but he's still Friday. I like my job, I really do.  I'd go so far as to say have passion for what I do and, more significantly, the role my organization plays in our community.  Even so, I still look forward to weekends.  I'll see the grandsons tonight, will get to see our daughter, son-in-law and, possibly, our son this weekend, get to share a meal or two with mom over the course of those two days, have a visit with a dear friend, and watch football with a couple of friends and/or family members.  I'll make bread, we'll cook good food, and M. and I will have some not-busy time together.  What's not to look forward to in all that?

Speaking of watching football, this is, here in the US, Superbowl Weekend.  That means many of us will be watching a football game on Sunday afternoon.  Others will be watching commercials.  Superbowl commercials are so lucrative (and costly to air) that an entire publicity industry has spun up around them.  There are adds about Superbowl adds.  These commercials pre-release to news programs to get pre-game airtime and chatter.  They create "previews" of the commercials to air before game day and on the Web.  And people really will tune in just to watch the commercials.  Like the old cliché from folks who subscribed to Playboy magazine "just for the articles,"  some folks will watch the Superbowl "just for the commercials."  Monday workplace talk will be a mix of folks discussing the game itself and those who are reliving and rating the commercials.  For weeks after, people will intentionally seek out and re-watch the "best" of those commercials over the Web.

I have to repeat that: people will intentionally seek out and re-watch the commercials.  There are several possible doctoral thesis in that sentence, folks, just parsing what that says about us as a people.

Then there will be the game itself, which I confess I will enthusiastically watch.  I love watching football.  I fought it for years, knowing how commercial, violent (for a compelling and measured take on this, check out this NewYorker article), and detrimental to our education system the game has become, but I finally acknowledged that I was a football fan and gave in.  I watch football whenever I can.  Cop-out or common sense –– I don't know.  Feel free to judge me, for whatever it's worth.

Speaking of judging, my take on the drive's soundtrack today: conflicted.  It started off with some most-excellent Brazilian samba (every day should start with samba, it's perfect ease-into-the-day music, both smooth and rhythmic) followed by some lilting pop-rock.  Then the tempo (and volume) plunged to dark contemporary classical which was immediately followed by some aggressive hip-hop.  Finally, The Weepies closed out the set with folk-rock.  A playlist that required deft volume control here and there and which, to be honest, did not play all that nicely together.  Still, it was interesting.

The full playlist:

 - Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto: Doralice

 - Travis: Driftwood

 - Kronos Quartet: Tenebrae: Second Movement

 - Common Market: Certitude

 - The Weepies: Hideaway

- Posted via iPad